diff --git a/cmd/mesh-host/main.go b/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
index c10562e..183755d 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
@@ -1198,7 +1198,17 @@ func holdTheMachine(ctx context.Context, opts options, mine identity.Identity, s
 		// A reconcile is otherwise silent. On an adopted node it speaks when what it holds or
 		// its firewall changed, because that is how a predecessor still writing is caught
 		// (novox/hq ADR 0100); publish decides whether anything did.
-		if publish != nil && report.Refused == "" && (len(report.Held) > 0 || report.Firewall != "") {
+		//
+		// **And on any node, when it can say which links face outside** (novox/hq ADR 0140). A
+		// converged node holds nothing and found no firewall, so this gate closed on it and the
+		// node could speak only in reply to a declaration — while the mesh composes no declaration
+		// for a node that has not said which links face outside. A machine waiting for a push that
+		// was waiting for the machine, and measured: three converged machines sat silent while the
+		// control plane refused to send them a filter.
+		//
+		// Offered, not published: whether it is news is still the watch's to decide, so an
+		// unchanged answer costs one comparison every reconcile and nothing on the bus.
+		if publish != nil && worthSaying(report) {
 			publish(report)
 		}
 		switch {
@@ -1210,6 +1220,23 @@ func holdTheMachine(ctx context.Context, opts options, mine identity.Identity, s
 	}
 }
 
+// worthSaying is whether a reconcile's report carries anything the mesh needs to hear unasked.
+//
+// **Named rather than written into the loop**, so the rule can be tested. It was a condition inline
+// and it was wrong in a way nothing could catch: it asked only what an adopted node reports, so a
+// converged node — which holds nothing and found no firewall — could speak only in reply to a
+// declaration, while the mesh composes no declaration for a node that has not said which links face
+// outside (novox/hq ADR 0140). Three machines sat silent waiting for a push that was waiting for them.
+//
+// A refused report says nothing about the machine, so it is not news; the refusal is said on the
+// console where a person reads it.
+func worthSaying(report link.Report) bool {
+	if report.Refused != "" {
+		return false
+	}
+	return len(report.Held) > 0 || report.Firewall != "" || len(report.Outward) > 0
+}
+
 // applyDeclared applies a declaration that has already been proved to come from the mesh.
 //
 // Signature checking happens before this is called, in the link. By the time anything here runs,
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-host/main_test.go b/cmd/mesh-host/main_test.go
index b4e84bc..d5a27d1 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-host/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-host/main_test.go
@@ -533,3 +533,38 @@ func TestANewOutwardLinkIsSaidUnasked(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("a changed outward link is not said, so the filter stays written around the old one")
 	}
 }
+
+// **A converged machine can say which links face outside, unasked.**
+//
+// A reconcile is otherwise silent, and the condition deciding when it speaks asked only what an
+// adopted node reports — what it holds, and the firewall it found. A converged node has neither, so
+// it could speak only in reply to a declaration, and the mesh composes no declaration for a node
+// that has not said which links face outside (novox/hq ADR 0140). Measured: three converged machines
+// sat silent while the control plane refused to send them a filter.
+func TestAConvergedMachineSaysItsOutwardLinksUnasked(t *testing.T) {
+	// A converged node's reconcile: nothing held, no found firewall, and the links it can see.
+	converged := link.Report{Outward: []string{"eth0"}}
+	if !worthSaying(converged) {
+		t.Fatal("a converged machine cannot say which links face outside, so it can never be " +
+			"sent a filter — a machine waiting for a push that is waiting for the machine")
+	}
+
+	// An adopted node's reasons still hold, because that is how a predecessor still writing is caught.
+	if !worthSaying(link.Report{Firewall: "ufw"}) {
+		t.Fatal("an adopted machine no longer says which firewall it found")
+	}
+	if !worthSaying(link.Report{Held: []link.Held{{ID: "a-file"}}}) {
+		t.Fatal("an adopted machine no longer says what it holds")
+	}
+
+	// And a reconcile with nothing to say stays silent, or every machine speaks every five minutes
+	// about nothing.
+	if worthSaying(link.Report{}) {
+		t.Fatal("a reconcile with nothing to say speaks anyway")
+	}
+
+	// A refused report says nothing about the machine; the refusal is for the console.
+	if worthSaying(link.Report{Outward: []string{"eth0"}, Refused: "not for this node"}) {
+		t.Fatal("a refused report is offered as news about the machine")
+	}
+}