diff --git a/internal/compose/frombus/answer_rows_test.go b/internal/compose/frombus/answer_rows_test.go
index 6251e35..15c33bc 100644
--- a/internal/compose/frombus/answer_rows_test.go
+++ b/internal/compose/frombus/answer_rows_test.go
@@ -218,6 +218,26 @@ func answerNamesEveryRefusalAndLeavesAnOldBuildToTheNode(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Errorf("spiegel in InOwn wanted at %s: %v, held %v, read as %s; want its build's image", sp.Fp2, err,
 				read.ComposedHow, raw)
 		}
+		// Issue 1921: held by its manifest's verdict, spiegel is still held in what the node composes, and the input a check
+		// is answered with says what holds it and carries the build the node would compose it at, taken in while done; a
+		// node's own read takes in no build of it.
+		sp.Verdict, sp.Problems = meshcatalogclient.VerdictRefused, []string{"p"}
+		bb.modules["spiegel"] = sp
+		for _, done := range []bool{true, false} {
+			if !done {
+				bb.builds["spiegel "+sp.Fp2].State = builds.BuildBuilding
+			}
+			read, err = ComposingInput(ctx, bb, Mesh{}, Scope{Node: "n1"}, map[string]string{"lemurs": fp("e"), "spiegel": sp.Fp2})
+			hold := read.Holds["spiegel"]
+			raw, _ = json.Marshal(hold.Built)
+			if err != nil || !read.Catalogue["spiegel"].Stubbed || hold.By != compose.HeldByVerdict || hold.Build != sp.Fp2 ||
+				strings.Contains(string(raw), strings.Repeat("7", 64)) != done || (hold.Built == nil) == done {
+				t.Errorf("spiegel refused, its build done %v: %v, hold %+v (built %s)", done, err, hold, raw)
+			}
+		}
+		if own, err := Input(ctx, bb, Mesh{}, Scope{Node: "n1"}); err != nil || own.Holds["spiegel"] != (compose.Hold{By: compose.HeldByVerdict}) {
+			t.Errorf("a node's own read of spiegel refused: %v, hold %+v", err, own.Holds["spiegel"])
+		}
 	}
 
 	// (C) Issue 1126, C5: what the others read of a module carried as it runs is what runs, never its stub's: the filter
diff --git a/internal/compose/frombus/frombus.go b/internal/compose/frombus/frombus.go
index f83a051..7aabec4 100644
--- a/internal/compose/frombus/frombus.go
+++ b/internal/compose/frombus/frombus.go
@@ -167,6 +167,10 @@ type Scope struct {
 	// Kept is told, in words, each module composed as what runs shows because its manifest does not yet say it (the tool
 	// runner, the core's credentials; ADR 0601 §4), so the node says it. Nil: said nowhere.
 	Kept func(module, words string)
+	// takeInHeld, set for the input a node answers a check with (ComposingInput), takes in the build of each module placed
+	// on the node that its manifest's verdict or its decoder holds, into compose.Input.Holds, never into what the node composes: the
+	// check's composer, judging the change's manifest itself, composes it at that build (issue 1921).
+	takeInHeld bool
 }
 
 // InOwn is, of the modules p places on its node, those whose resources the node's own composition it runs
@@ -214,21 +218,23 @@ func Input(ctx context.Context, r Reader, mesh Mesh, s Scope) (compose.Input, er
 // taken is a module's manifest as a reader takes it (novox/hq ADR 0578 §3): decoded leniently, with the indexer's verdict
 // from its modules value. A refused one, or bytes that do not decode, stands as its stub (unusable) and why says so; a
 // manifest not read past a field it set aside holds its name alone and is held the same.
-func taken(name string, raw []byte, m meshcatalog.ModulesByModuleValue) (man catalogue.Manifest, why string) {
+//
+// by is what holds it (compose.HeldByVerdict or compose.HeldByDecoder), empty when nothing does.
+func taken(name string, raw []byte, m meshcatalog.ModulesByModuleValue) (man catalogue.Manifest, why, by string) {
 	if v := meshcatalogclient.ModuleVerdict(name, m); v != nil {
 		if refused, _ := meshcatalogclient.TakeVerdict(v); refused {
-			return unusable(name, raw), meshcatalogclient.VerdictWhy(*v)
+			return unusable(name, raw), meshcatalogclient.VerdictWhy(*v), compose.HeldByVerdict
 		}
 	}
 	man, err := catalogue.Decode(raw)
 	switch {
 	case err != nil:
-		return unusable(name, raw), fmt.Sprintf("the manifest of %s does not decode: %v", name, err)
+		return unusable(name, raw), fmt.Sprintf("the manifest of %s does not decode: %v", name, err), compose.HeldByDecoder
 	case man.ReadNoFurther():
 		return unusable(name, raw), fmt.Sprintf("the manifest of %s could not be read past a field this reader does not "+
-			"know: %s", name, man.SetAside())
+			"know: %s", name, man.SetAside()), compose.HeldByDecoder
 	}
-	return man, ""
+	return man, "", ""
 }
 
 // input is Input; with refuse set, a module placed on the composing node whose build cannot be read or taken in, or whose
@@ -374,9 +380,13 @@ func readBase(ctx context.Context, r Reader, mesh Mesh, s Scope) (base, error) {
 		// follows (issue 774: power's bar item refused every node's composition, 2026-10-30; ADR 0578 §3: one refused
 		// manifest silenced disk-load for 45 hours). It stands in as its stub, so what it provides and requires still
 		// shapes the rest; it is held on the composing node where it is placed there, and elsewhere only its offer is read.
-		man, why := taken(name, raw, m)
+		man, why, by := taken(name, raw, m)
 		if why != "" {
 			named(&in.Refused, name, why)
+			if in.Holds == nil {
+				in.Holds = map[string]compose.Hold{}
+			}
+			in.Holds[name] = compose.Hold{By: by}
 			if ownPlaced[name] {
 				b.ownRefused = append(b.ownRefused, [2]string{name, why})
 			}
@@ -600,6 +610,7 @@ func Compose(ctx context.Context, r Reader, mesh Mesh, s Scope, fps map[string]s
 // credential: the sandbox composes no pair value.
 func ComposingInput(ctx context.Context, r Reader, mesh Mesh, s Scope, fps map[string]string) (compose.Input, error) {
 	held := map[string]string{}
+	s.takeInHeld = true
 	in, err := input(ctx, r, mesh, s, func(module string, err error) { held[module] = err.Error() }, fps)
 	if err != nil {
 		return compose.Input{}, err
@@ -909,7 +920,23 @@ func fromBuilds(ctx context.Context, r Reader, build func(ctx context.Context, m
 			continue
 		}
 		if _, refused := in.Refused[pm.Module]; refused {
-			continue // held as its stub: no build of a refused manifest is taken in (ADR 0578 §3)
+			// Held as its stub: no build of a refused manifest is composed (ADR 0578 §3). For a check, the build the node
+			// would compose it at is said beside it, and taken in when done, for the check's composer alone.
+			if hold, said := in.Holds[pm.Module]; s.takeInHeld && said {
+				hold.Build = m.Fp2
+				if w := wanted[pm.Module]; w != "" {
+					hold.Build = w
+				}
+				// Its stub names no build, so the builder is asked: a build not done, or not taken in, is awaited.
+				if b, err := build(ctx, pm.Module, hold.Build); err == nil && b != nil && b.State == builds.BuildDone {
+					if resolved, err := built(pm.Module, hold.Build, b); err == nil {
+						hold.Built = &resolved
+					}
+				}
+				in.Holds = maps.Clone(in.Holds)
+				in.Holds[pm.Module] = hold
+			}
+			continue
 		}
 		if man, ok := in.Catalogue[pm.Module]; !ok || (man.Build == nil && !man.Templated()) {
 			continue // nothing is built of it: its manifest is what it composes from
diff --git a/internal/compose/input.go b/internal/compose/input.go
index e1eaa9b..74c7c8d 100644
--- a/internal/compose/input.go
+++ b/internal/compose/input.go
@@ -114,11 +114,36 @@ type Input struct {
 	// (compose.Stub), so it is held: nothing of its own is composed, while what it provides and requires still shapes the
 	// rest. A module not named is accepted, a missing verdict included.
 	Refused map[string]string `json:",omitempty"`
+	// Holds is, by module Refused names, what holds it and the build its node would compose it at (issue 1921): a check's
+	// composer that judges the change's manifest itself (novox/hq ADR 0578 §2) composes a module refused by the running
+	// indexer alone from that build, and names one whose build it is not given. Nil from a node-engine before it.
+	Holds map[string]Hold `json:",omitempty"`
 	// SetAside is each module whose manifest has a field the reader's decoder does not know, by module, with what was set
 	// aside (catalogue.Manifest.SetAside): the rest of it is composed, and the reader names it (ADR 0578 §6).
 	SetAside map[string]string `json:",omitempty"`
 }
 
+// What holds a module Refused names (Hold.By).
+const (
+	// HeldByVerdict is a module the indexer's judge refused the manifest of (its verdict).
+	HeldByVerdict = "verdict"
+	// HeldByDecoder is a module whose bytes this reader's decoder does not decode, or cannot read past a field it does not
+	// know: no judge of the manifest overrules it.
+	HeldByDecoder = "decoder"
+)
+
+// Hold is what holds one module Refused names, and the build its node would compose it at (Input.Holds).
+type Hold struct {
+	// By is HeldByVerdict or HeldByDecoder.
+	By string
+	// Build is the fingerprint the node would compose it at, its want's or else the indexer's newest; empty where it is not
+	// placed on the composing node or names no build.
+	Build string `json:",omitempty"`
+	// Built is its manifest as the node takes it in from that build, when the builder holds it done; nil while that build
+	// is awaited (or not asked: only a node's answer to a check asks it).
+	Built *catalogue.Manifest `json:",omitempty"`
+}
+
 // Issued is one pair credential made for a consumer of a provider (inv.Secret): ForProvider is its copy sealed to the
 // provider, optional.
 type Issued struct {