diff --git a/cmd/mesh-host/apply_context_test.go b/cmd/mesh-host/apply_context_test.go
index 2bb99be..a78a993 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-host/apply_context_test.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-host/apply_context_test.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ func TestAnApplyOutlivesTheLinksContext(t *testing.T) {
 // An apply is bounded all the same: a step that hangs (a docker call that never returns) cannot hold the node agent for
 // ever (the review of issue 1945).
 func TestAnApplyIsBounded(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("the marks of the haves never hold the pass", marksOfTheHavesNeverHoldThePass)
 	ctx, done := applyContext(context.Background())
 	defer done()
 	at, ok := ctx.Deadline()
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-host/marker_test.go b/cmd/mesh-host/marker_test.go
index 68c86e5..429014f 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-host/marker_test.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-host/marker_test.go
@@ -8,15 +8,16 @@ import (
 
 // Issue 1965 (shanks 2026-11-05 22:22): the marks of the haves never hold the composition pass. A mark that stalls on the
 // bus is cut at markWithin, a mark set while one runs replaces the pending one of its name, and set itself never waits.
-func TestMarksOfTheHavesNeverHoldThePass(t *testing.T) {
-	setMarkWithin(t, 30*time.Millisecond)
+func marksOfTheHavesNeverHoldThePass(t *testing.T) {
+	// The bound is the test's own: the stalled mark is released by a channel, never by a real wait.
+	setMarkWithin(t, time.Hour)
 	m := newMarker(context.Background())
+	release := make(chan struct{})
 	var ran []string
 	stalled := make(chan struct{})
-	began := time.Now()
-	m.set("refused", func(ctx context.Context) { // a have write that stalls until its bound
+	m.set("refused", func(ctx context.Context) { // a have write that stalls until the test lets it go
 		close(stalled)
-		<-ctx.Done()
+		<-release
 		ran = append(ran, "refused-stalled")
 	})
 	<-stalled
@@ -24,9 +25,8 @@ func TestMarksOfTheHavesNeverHoldThePass(t *testing.T) {
 	m.set("kept", func(context.Context) { ran = append(ran, "kept-old") })
 	m.set("kept", func(context.Context) { ran = append(ran, "kept-new") })
 	m.set("refused", func(context.Context) { ran = append(ran, "refused-new") })
-	if took := time.Since(began); took > 20*time.Millisecond {
-		t.Errorf("setting marks took %v; it must not wait on the stalled one", took)
-	}
+	// All four sets above returned while the first mark still stalled: set never waits on it.
+	close(release)
 	m.wait()
 	want := []string{"refused-stalled", "kept-new", "refused-new"}
 	if len(ran) != len(want) {
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-host/nodeagent.go b/cmd/mesh-host/nodeagent.go
index a1b4568..6cf6335 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-host/nodeagent.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-host/nodeagent.go
@@ -703,8 +703,12 @@ type agentNow struct {
 	// read no haves yet, what runs is this and never the retired kept declaration (a bus link that drops restarts the
 	// agent, and every fill in that window was refused; issue 924).
 	last *runsView
+	// view reads an agent's view; viewOf unless a test stands in for an agent that holds the node.
+	view func(*agent.Agent) *runsView
 }
 
+func viewOf(a *agent.Agent) *runsView { return &runsView{a.Everything(), a.HoldsNode()} }
+
 // runsView is what an agent said runs, to be read after the agent stopped.
 type runsView struct {
 	everything []compositions.Composed
@@ -714,7 +718,11 @@ type runsView struct {
 func (c *agentNow) set(a *agent.Agent) {
 	c.mu.Lock()
 	if a == nil && c.ag != nil {
-		if v := (&runsView{c.ag.Everything(), c.ag.HoldsNode()}); len(v.everything) > 0 || v.holdsNode {
+		read := c.view
+		if read == nil {
+			read = viewOf
+		}
+		if v := read(c.ag); len(v.everything) > 0 || v.holdsNode {
 			c.last = v
 		}
 	}
@@ -722,6 +730,22 @@ func (c *agentNow) set(a *agent.Agent) {
 	c.mu.Unlock()
 }
 
+func (c *agentNow) viewFn() func(*agent.Agent) *runsView {
+	c.mu.Lock()
+	defer c.mu.Unlock()
+	if c.view == nil {
+		return viewOf
+	}
+	return c.view
+}
+
+// holdsNode drops the kept view once the agent in hand holds the node: its own view is complete from then on.
+func (c *agentNow) holdsNode() {
+	c.mu.Lock()
+	c.last = nil
+	c.mu.Unlock()
+}
+
 // lastView is the view the last agent held when it stopped, nil when none held any.
 func (c *agentNow) lastView() *runsView {
 	c.mu.Lock()
@@ -914,7 +938,10 @@ func runsFromAgent(current *agentNow) func(string, ed25519.PublicKey) (*declarat
 		kept := func() (*declaration.Declaration, error) { return keptDeclaration(statePath, signer) }
 		var view *runsView
 		if ag := current.get(); ag != nil {
-			view = &runsView{ag.Everything(), ag.HoldsNode()}
+			view = current.viewFn()(ag)
+			if view.holdsNode {
+				current.holdsNode()
+			}
 		}
 		// An agent that has read no haves yet, or none: the last view held, never the retired kept declaration.
 		if view == nil || (len(view.everything) == 0 && !view.holdsNode) {
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-host/whatruns_test.go b/cmd/mesh-host/whatruns_test.go
index 8d0a787..50da892 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-host/whatruns_test.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-host/whatruns_test.go
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ func TestWhatRunsIsTheAgentsCompositionsAndTheKeptRest(t *testing.T) {
 
 // What the take act, the judgement of directories and the filling read is what runs, not the frozen kept declaration.
 func TestDeclaredNowReadsWhatRunsWhenTheAgentIsRunning(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("a fill while the agent restarts", aFillWhileTheAgentRestartsIsWrittenAfterwards)
 	setRunsHere(func(string, ed25519.PublicKey) (*declaration.Declaration, error) {
 		return &declaration.Declaration{Version: 1, Resources: nil, Provisioner: "from-agent"}, nil
 	})
@@ -243,7 +244,7 @@ func TestASharedTargetWithAnotherIDIsNotDropped(t *testing.T) {
 // Issue 924: the bus link drops, the agent restarts, and the filling is asked while it holds nothing yet. What runs is
 // then the last view the node held, never the retired kept declaration; and a fill refused for want of any is owed and
 // told once the agent holds the node again, so every file is written afterwards.
-func TestAFillWhileTheAgentRestartsIsWrittenAfterwards(t *testing.T) {
+func aFillWhileTheAgentRestartsIsWrittenAfterwards(t *testing.T) {
 	keptRetired.Store(true)
 	defer keptRetired.Store(false)
 	node := engcomp.Composed{Node: "n1", Own: engcomp.NodeOwn{Provisioner: "mesh-node-provisioner"}}
@@ -251,7 +252,15 @@ func TestAFillWhileTheAgentRestartsIsWrittenAfterwards(t *testing.T) {
 	view := &runsView{everything: append(files, node), holdsNode: true}
 
 	var placed []string
-	current := &agentNow{}
+	// The agent holds the node, then the link drops and it stops: set(nil) keeps its view.
+	holding := true
+	current := &agentNow{view: func(*agent.Agent) *runsView {
+		if holding {
+			return view
+		}
+		return &runsView{}
+	}}
+	current.set(agent.New(agent.Env{}))
 	e := &filling.Engine{
 		Declared: func() (*declaration.Declaration, error) { return runsFromAgent(current)("/nowhere", nil) },
 		UIDOf:    func(string) (uint32, error) { return 4242, nil },
@@ -269,16 +278,28 @@ func TestAFillWhileTheAgentRestartsIsWrittenAfterwards(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
-	// The node never held a view (a cold start): refused, and owed.
+	// The next agent has read no haves and the previous one's view is gone (a cold start): refused, and owed.
+	cold := &agentNow{}
+	cold.set(agent.New(agent.Env{}))
+	cold.set(nil)
+	e.Declared = func() (*declaration.Declaration, error) { return runsFromAgent(cold)("/nowhere", nil) }
 	if a := fill(); a.Failed == "" && a.Refused == "" {
 		t.Fatalf("a fill with nothing read was accepted: %+v", a)
 	}
-	// The agent stopped holding the node: the last view it held answers, and the fill is written.
-	current.last = view
+	// The link drops: set(nil) keeps the view the agent held, and the fill during the restart is written.
+	e.Declared = func() (*declaration.Declaration, error) { return runsFromAgent(current)("/nowhere", nil) }
+	current.set(nil)
 	if told, err := e.Knock(socket); err != nil || told == "" {
 		t.Fatalf("the refused fill was not owed and told: %q, %v", told, err)
 	}
 	if a := fill(); a.Failed != "" || a.Refused != "" || len(placed) != 1 {
 		t.Fatalf("the fill during the restart was not written: %+v, placed %v", a, placed)
 	}
+	// The new agent holds the node: its own view answers and the kept one is dropped.
+	next := agent.New(agent.Env{})
+	current.set(next)
+	holding = true
+	if _, err := runsFromAgent(current)("/nowhere", nil); err != nil || current.lastView() != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the kept view stays after the new agent holds the node: %v, %v", err, current.lastView())
+	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/selfcompose/compose_while_passing_test.go b/internal/selfcompose/compose_while_passing_test.go
index ed56149..ea37027 100644
--- a/internal/selfcompose/compose_while_passing_test.go
+++ b/internal/selfcompose/compose_while_passing_test.go
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import (
 // Issue 1965 (shanks 2026-11-05 22:27: the verb compose gave no answer in 30 s while a pass waited on the bus): an ask
 // that comes while a pass runs is answered at once, says one more pass is queued and what the running one waits on, and
 // the queued pass is made when the running one ends.
-func TestComposeAnsweredWhileAPassRuns(t *testing.T) {
+func composeAnsweredWhileAPassRuns(t *testing.T) {
 	b := newFakeBus()
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	defer cancel()
diff --git a/internal/selfcompose/composedstate_test.go b/internal/selfcompose/composedstate_test.go
index a1a45f8..94a25d7 100644
--- a/internal/selfcompose/composedstate_test.go
+++ b/internal/selfcompose/composedstate_test.go
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ func (f *fakeComposed) written() []string {
 // the same build landing again writes nothing. And a module's keys are kept while among the five it wrote last or named
 // by a want, and deleted otherwise.
 func TestTheNodePublishesItsCompositions(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("the verb compose is answered while a pass runs", composeAnsweredWhileAPassRuns)
 	b := newFakeBus()
 	fp := meshcatalogclient.SourcePrefix2 + strings.Repeat("a", 64)
 	ofp := meshcatalogclient.SourcePrefix2 + strings.Repeat("c", 64)