diff --git a/go/buscompose/buscompose_test.go b/go/buscompose/buscompose_test.go
index 5e7f36e..4a10d97 100644
--- a/go/buscompose/buscompose_test.go
+++ b/go/buscompose/buscompose_test.go
@@ -34,12 +34,13 @@ var createdAdvisory = regexp.MustCompile(`"\$JS\.EVENT\.ADVISORY\.STREAM\.CREATE
 // keep applying without composing their own until the next take-over. Each principal's hearing of its buckets' creation
 // (issue 1790) is the other row beyond, matched by createdAdvisory.
 //
-// And the watchman's dead letters (novox/hq ADR 0564 clause 5, issue 1952 S5): its own consumer on DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES and
-// a read of DEAD_LETTERS, the controller's job until the lease write.
+// And the watchman's dead letters and watchdogs (novox/hq ADR 0564 clauses 4, 5, issue 1952 S5): its own consumer on
+// DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES, a read of DEAD_LETTERS, and the words its watchdogs hear, the controller's jobs until the lease
+// write.
 func beyondTheControllers(user string) map[string]bool {
 	out := map[string]bool{}
 	if strings.HasSuffix(user, "."+WatchmanModule) {
-		for _, s := range WatchmanDeadLetterGrants(nil) {
+		for _, s := range append(WatchmanDeadLetterGrants(nil), WatchmanHears()...) {
 			out[s] = true
 		}
 	}
@@ -605,8 +606,8 @@ func healthChecks(t *testing.T) {
 		"a.mesh-conditions": {"$KV.mesh-conditions_conditions.machine.g14.silent"},
 		WatchmanModule: {"$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES." + WatchmanModule, "$JS.API.CONSUMER.MSG.NEXT.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES." + WatchmanModule,
 			"$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller", "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.DEAD_LETTERS"},
-		WatchmanModule + " sources": {"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.EVENTS", "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.DELETE.SEAT_TELEGRAM_SENDER",
-			"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.M_WORK", "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.DELETE.DEAD_LETTERS", "mesh.events.dead.EVENTS.a_m", "mesh.again.a_m.x"},
+		WatchmanModule + " sources": {"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.EVENTS", "$JS.API.STREAM.INFO.SEAT_TELEGRAM_SENDER",
+			"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.M_WORK", "$JS.API.STREAM.INFO.EVENTS", "mesh.events.dead.EVENTS.a_m"},
 		"a.nats.nats-tools": {"$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller",
 			"$KV.mesh-host_acts.g14.a1", "$JS.API.STREAM.INFO.KV_mesh-host_acts"},
 	}
@@ -619,7 +620,10 @@ func healthChecks(t *testing.T) {
 		// Its reads and deletes of a message are on the streams a dead letter comes from, named, never a bucket's
 		// (the lead, 2026-10-29).
 		WatchmanModule + " sources": {"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.KV_mesh-vault_bus-accounts", "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.KV_x",
-			"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.DELETE.KV_mesh-host_acts", "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.OBJ_mesh-grants-user-list", "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.OTHER"},
+			"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.DELETE.KV_mesh-host_acts", "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.OBJ_mesh-grants-user-list", "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET.OTHER",
+			// In L4 it neither delivers again nor drops (clause 5, the lead 2026-10-29).
+			"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.DELETE.EVENTS", "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.DELETE.DEAD_LETTERS", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE.DEAD_LETTERS.x",
+			"mesh.again.a_m.x"},
 		WatchmanModule: {"$KV.mesh-conditions_conditions.x", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller",
 			"$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES." + WatchmanModule},
 		// The bus module's tools remove the one consumer and the acts' keys, nothing else (Limits 4); its other accounts
@@ -640,6 +644,15 @@ func healthChecks(t *testing.T) {
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatalf("%s: %v", name, err)
 		}
+		if name == WatchmanModule {
+			// It hears its watchdogs' words on core subjects (Limits 3, 11).
+			for _, subject := range []string{"mesh.mod.power.event.sleeping", "mesh.control.g14.tools-alive",
+				"mesh.seat.mesh-self-check.event.checked", "mesh.mod.keycloak.event.provisioner.failing"} {
+				if !MaySubscribe(perms, subject) {
+					t.Errorf("the watchman may not hear %s", subject)
+				}
+			}
+		}
 		subjects := append(append([]string(nil), may[name]...), may[name+" sources"]...)
 		denied := append(append([]string(nil), mayNot[name]...), mayNot[name+" sources"]...)
 		if len(may[name+" sources"]) > 0 {
diff --git a/go/buscompose/health_grants.go b/go/buscompose/health_grants.go
index 46605dc..26f3c3b 100644
--- a/go/buscompose/health_grants.go
+++ b/go/buscompose/health_grants.go
@@ -62,14 +62,14 @@ func removesEngineActs(p Principal, pattern string) bool {
 // controller and `controller` is gone (ADR 0564 clause 5).
 const WatchmanDeadLetterConsumer = WatchmanModule
 
-// WatchmanDeadLetterGrants are what the watchman may publish for the dead letters (ADR 0564 clause 5): its own pulled
-// consumer on DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES (made, read, pulled, acknowledged), whether `controller` still stands (read only), a
-// read of DEAD_LETTERS (its list by subject, one kept message, an ordered consumer of its own to page them, a drop), the
-// copies kept and the messages delivered again (`mesh.events.dead.>`, `mesh.again.>`), and on each stream a notice can
-// name (sources: EVENTS, the seats' work queues and the modules' own) the message given up on read, its consumer read,
-// and its message deleted from the work queue when delivered again, each stream by its name. Never a wildcard over the
-// streams and never a bucket's or an object store's stream: a read of any message would read every bucket (the lead,
-// 2026-10-29, on issue 1952 S5).
+// WatchmanDeadLetterGrants are what the watchman may publish for the dead letters in L4 (ADR 0564 clause 5), at least
+// privilege: its own pulled consumer on DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES (made, read, pulled, acknowledged); whether `controller`
+// still stands (read only); a read of DEAD_LETTERS (its information and one kept message); a copy kept
+// (`mesh.events.dead.>`); and on each stream a notice can name (sources: EVENTS, the seats' work queues and the
+// modules' own), its information, for a source's age (ADR 0376), and the message given up on, each stream by its name.
+// Never a wildcard over the streams and never a bucket's or an object store's stream: a read of any message would read
+// every bucket (the lead, 2026-10-29, on issue 1952 S5). Delivering again and dropping stay refused in L4, so it may
+// neither delete a message nor publish `mesh.again.>`.
 func WatchmanDeadLetterGrants(sources []string) []string {
 	own := DeadLetterNoticesStream + "." + WatchmanDeadLetterConsumer
 	out := []string{
@@ -81,19 +81,29 @@ func WatchmanDeadLetterGrants(sources []string) []string {
 		"$JS.ACK." + own + ".>",
 		"$JS.API.STREAM.INFO." + DeadLettersStream,
 		"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET." + DeadLettersStream,
-		"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.DELETE." + DeadLettersStream,
-		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE." + DeadLettersStream + ".>",
-		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE." + DeadLettersStream + ".*",
-		"$JS.FC." + DeadLettersStream + ".>",
 		deadLetterPrefix + ">",
-		againPrefix + ">",
 	}
 	for _, s := range DeadLetterSources(sources) {
-		out = append(out, "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET."+s, "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.DELETE."+s, "$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO."+s+".*")
+		out = append(out, "$JS.API.STREAM.INFO."+s, "$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.GET."+s)
 	}
 	return out
 }
 
+// WatchmanHears are the core subjects the watchman subscribes, with no durable consumer (ADR 0564 clauses 4, 5 and
+// Limits 3, 11): the power seat's words (S1, ADR 0211), the providers' failing and recovered words (S8), each tool
+// runner's beat (S11), the self-check's checked (S10), a consumer deleted (S9), and the dead letters kept.
+func WatchmanHears() []string {
+	return []string{
+		"mesh.mod.power.event.*",
+		"mesh.mod.*.event.provisioner.failing",
+		"mesh.mod.*.event.provisioner.recovered",
+		"mesh.control.*.tools-alive",
+		"mesh.seat.mesh-self-check.event." + health.EventChecked,
+		"$JS.EVENT.ADVISORY.CONSUMER.DELETED.>",
+		deadLetterPrefix + ">",
+	}
+}
+
 // DeadLetterSources are the streams of names a dead letter may come from, sorted, none twice: each a plain name, never a
 // bucket's (KV_) or an object store's (OBJ_) stream, the dead letters' own two streams, or a pattern.
 func DeadLetterSources(names []string) []string {
@@ -136,8 +146,10 @@ func deadLetterSourcesOf(r Records) []string {
 	return DeadLetterSources(out)
 }
 
-// keepsDeadLetters is the watchman keeping the dead letters: a second writer of the copies and the deliveries again
-// beside the controller, which acts until its lease is handed away and the watchman after (ADR 0564 clause 5).
+// keepsDeadLetters is the watchman keeping the dead letters: a second writer of the copies beside the controller, which
+// keeps them until its lease is handed away and the watchman after (ADR 0564 clause 5). Delivering again stays the
+// controller's in L4.
 func keepsDeadLetters(p Principal, pattern string) bool {
-	return isController(p, pattern) || (p.Kind == KindModule && p.Module == WatchmanModule)
+	return isController(p, pattern) ||
+		(p.Kind == KindModule && p.Module == WatchmanModule && pattern == deadLetterPrefix+">")
 }
diff --git a/go/buscompose/nats.go b/go/buscompose/nats.go
index e27d05d..25edb1a 100644
--- a/go/buscompose/nats.go
+++ b/go/buscompose/nats.go
@@ -1006,6 +1006,8 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 			pub = append(pub, BusConnzSubject)
 			// And the dead letters, from its own consumer, never the controller's (novox/hq ADR 0564 clause 5).
 			pub = append(pub, WatchmanDeadLetterGrants(p.DeadLetterSources)...)
+			// And the words its watchdogs hear (ADR 0564 clause 4, Limits 3, 11).
+			sub = append(sub, WatchmanHears()...)
 		}
 		// The grants part alone publishes the modules' memberships into the assignments stream (novox/hq ADR 0547 §5;
 		// the operator, 2026-10-25 22:31): one per subject, `mesh.assignment.<node>.<module>`, reading the last one of each
diff --git a/go/buscompose/writers.go b/go/buscompose/writers.go
index 0911597..1d94184 100644
--- a/go/buscompose/writers.go
+++ b/go/buscompose/writers.go
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ var WritersTable = []WriterRow{
 	{State: "a message a consumer gave up on", Writer: "controller", KeptIn: "the bus, the stream " + DeadLettersStream,
 		Others:   "read, delivered again or dropped through the controller's dead-letters verb",
 		Subjects: []string{deadLetterPrefix + ">", againPrefix + ">"}, Writes: keepsDeadLetters,
-		Shared: "the watchman keeps them from the controller's lease write, the controller before it (novox/hq ADR 0564 clause 5)"},
+		Shared: "the watchman keeps the copies from the controller's lease write, the controller before it; delivering again stays the controller's (novox/hq ADR 0564 clause 5)"},
 	// The record mirrors (novox/hq ADR 0289 §9, design 54 §2): rows of this table, so a grant that lets
 	// anything else write them is refused at composition. Built so far: the assignments and each registered
 	// module's declared config (design 57 F3), and the list of predefined keys kept (design 57 K3).