diff --git a/internal/apply/apply.go b/internal/apply/apply.go
index 134b767..00abb28 100644
--- a/internal/apply/apply.go
+++ b/internal/apply/apply.go
@@ -728,25 +728,25 @@ func ApplyMindingWindows(
 			Origin: origin,
 			ID:     resource.Identity(), Type: string(resource.Kind()),
 			Target: outcome.Target, AppliedAt: time.Now().UTC(),
-			Wrote:     outcome.wrote,
-			Into:      outcome.into,
-			Kept:      kept,
-			KeptMode:  keptMode,
-			KeptOwner: keptOwner,
-			Reads:     outcome.reads,
-			Stateless: outcome.stateless,
-			Scope:     outcome.scope,
-			User:      outcome.user,
-			Found:     outcome.found,
-			Declared:  outcome.declared,
-			Shell:     outcome.shell,
-			Linger:    outcome.linger,
-			Groups:    outcome.groups,
-			Unpacked:  outcome.unpacked,
-			AsFound:   outcome.asFound,
-			Declared:  outcome.asFoundDeclared,
-			FoundAt:   outcome.asFoundAt,
-			Holds:     holds(resource),
+			Wrote:        outcome.wrote,
+			Into:         outcome.into,
+			Kept:         kept,
+			KeptMode:     keptMode,
+			KeptOwner:    keptOwner,
+			Reads:        outcome.reads,
+			Stateless:    outcome.stateless,
+			Scope:        outcome.scope,
+			User:         outcome.user,
+			Found:        outcome.found,
+			DeclaredUnit: outcome.declared,
+			Shell:        outcome.shell,
+			Linger:       outcome.linger,
+			Groups:       outcome.groups,
+			Unpacked:     outcome.unpacked,
+			AsFound:      outcome.asFound,
+			Declared:     outcome.asFoundDeclared,
+			FoundAt:      outcome.asFoundAt,
+			Holds:        holds(resource),
 		})
 		if outcome.found != nil {
 			known.DropFound(resource.Identity())
@@ -2847,9 +2847,9 @@ func giveUnitBack(ctx context.Context, sys system.System, a store.Applied, run R
 	// mesh's doing outliving the mesh — a pool whose distribution scrub timer a module stopped would have
 	// no schedule at all once the module went. A unit stopped for any other reason is not known to have
 	// been stopped by the mesh, and is left as before.
-	if !made && a.Declared != nil && (a.Declared.Unit == "" || a.Declared.Unit == a.Target) {
-		start := a.Found.State == "running" && a.Declared.State == "stopped"
-		enable := a.Found.Boot == "enabled" && a.Declared.Boot == "disabled"
+	if !made && a.DeclaredUnit != nil && (a.DeclaredUnit.Unit == "" || a.DeclaredUnit.Unit == a.Target) {
+		start := a.Found.State == "running" && a.DeclaredUnit.State == "stopped"
+		enable := a.Found.Boot == "enabled" && a.DeclaredUnit.Boot == "disabled"
 		if start || enable {
 			return startUnitBack(ctx, sys, a, run, start, enable)
 		}
@@ -2953,9 +2953,9 @@ func startUnitBack(ctx context.Context, sys system.System, a store.Applied, run
 				errRemovalWaits, a.Target, err)
 		}
 	}
-	if state != a.Declared.State || (a.Declared.Boot != "" && boot != a.Declared.Boot) {
+	if state != a.DeclaredUnit.State || (a.DeclaredUnit.Boot != "" && boot != a.DeclaredUnit.Boot) {
 		return "forgotten", fmt.Sprintf("it is %s and %s at boot, not the %s and %s the mesh held it to: somebody "+
-			"changed it since, so it is left as it is", state, boot, a.Declared.State, orUnset(a.Declared.Boot)), nil
+			"changed it since, so it is left as it is", state, boot, a.DeclaredUnit.State, orUnset(a.DeclaredUnit.Boot)), nil
 	}
 	var did []string
 	if enable {
@@ -3027,7 +3027,7 @@ func foundAs(ctx context.Context, sys system.System, r *declaration.Service, run
 		// Given back as if undeclared, never as the mesh's own: whether the mesh wrote the old
 		// unit's file is known to the removal of orphans, and that file's own record goes with it.
 		action, detail, err := removeService(ctx, sys,
-			store.Applied{Type: string(declaration.TypeService), Target: unit, Found: f, Declared: previous.Declared,
+			store.Applied{Type: string(declaration.TypeService), Target: unit, Found: f, DeclaredUnit: previous.DeclaredUnit,
 				Scope: previous.Scope, User: previous.User}, run, false)
 		switch {
 		case errors.Is(err, errRemovalWaits):
diff --git a/internal/apply/plan.go b/internal/apply/plan.go
index e355737..bbd42de 100644
--- a/internal/apply/plan.go
+++ b/internal/apply/plan.go
@@ -125,14 +125,14 @@ func Plan(d *declaration.Declaration, known store.State, origin string) []Step {
 			case f == nil:
 				step.Verb, step.Why = "forget", "no longer declared; recorded before the host kept what it "+
 					"found, so it is left as it is"
-			case orphan.Declared != nil && ((f.State == "running" && orphan.Declared.State == "stopped") ||
-				(f.Boot == "enabled" && orphan.Declared.Boot == "disabled")):
+			case orphan.DeclaredUnit != nil && ((f.State == "running" && orphan.DeclaredUnit.State == "stopped") ||
+				(f.Boot == "enabled" && orphan.DeclaredUnit.Boot == "disabled")):
 				// startUnitBack's words (novox/hq ADR 0269): what the mesh's declaration stopped goes back.
 				var back []string
-				if f.State == "running" && orphan.Declared.State == "stopped" {
+				if f.State == "running" && orphan.DeclaredUnit.State == "stopped" {
 					back = append(back, "started")
 				}
-				if f.Boot == "enabled" && orphan.Declared.Boot == "disabled" {
+				if f.Boot == "enabled" && orphan.DeclaredUnit.Boot == "disabled" {
 					back = append(back, "enabled at boot")
 				}
 				// A preview: whether it is still as the mesh held it is read when the removal runs, and a
diff --git a/internal/store/declared_keys_test.go b/internal/store/declared_keys_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf34caa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/store/declared_keys_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+package store
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// A directory used as found and a service's held state are two records that both say "declared"
+// (novox/hq issue 339, ADR 0269). The directory's was on nodes first, under the key "declared", and a
+// record a node already holds must keep reading back; the service's has a key of its own.
+func TestADirectorysDeclaredAndAUnitsDeclaredKeepTheirOwnKeys(t *testing.T) {
+	onDisk := []byte(`{"id":"notes.data","type":"directory","as_found":true,"declared":"root, mode 755",` +
+		`"declared_unit":{"unit":"a.timer","state":"stopped","boot":"disabled"}}`)
+	var a Applied
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(onDisk, &a); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if a.Declared != "root, mode 755" {
+		t.Errorf("the directory's declared owner and mode read back as %q", a.Declared)
+	}
+	if a.DeclaredUnit == nil || a.DeclaredUnit.State != "stopped" || a.DeclaredUnit.Boot != "disabled" {
+		t.Errorf("the unit's held state read back as %+v", a.DeclaredUnit)
+	}
+	body, err := json.Marshal(a)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	var keys map[string]json.RawMessage
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(body, &keys); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if string(keys["declared"]) != `"root, mode 755"` || keys["declared_unit"] == nil {
+		t.Errorf("written as %s", body)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/store/store.go b/internal/store/store.go
index b2f3db3..3db306e 100644
--- a/internal/store/store.go
+++ b/internal/store/store.go
@@ -99,12 +99,13 @@ type Applied struct {
 	// when its declaration goes; one the mesh started is stopped again. Absent on a record written
 	// before the host kept it, and then the unit is left exactly as it is.
 	Found *FoundUnit `json:"found,omitempty"`
-	// Declared is, for a service with a state, what the mesh last held its unit to: running or stopped,
+	// DeclaredUnit is, for a service with a state, what the mesh last held its unit to: running or stopped,
 	// and enabled or disabled where the declaration said. With Found, it tells a unit the mesh's own
 	// declaration stopped and disabled from one somebody stopped since, so removal gives back running
 	// and enabled only the first (novox/hq ADR 0269). Absent on a record from before the host kept it,
 	// and then nothing is started on the way out.
-	Declared *FoundUnit `json:"declared,omitempty"`
+	// Its key is not "declared": that one is a directory's (AsFound, below) and was on disk first.
+	DeclaredUnit *FoundUnit `json:"declared_unit,omitempty"`
 
 	// Into is set for a file written into rather than over (novox/hq ADR 0102): the format, what
 	// each of the mesh's keys held before it set them, which of them were absent, and whether the