diff --git a/src/broker-nats.ts b/src/broker-nats.ts
index 767f7d8..b6bf0d7 100644
--- a/src/broker-nats.ts
+++ b/src/broker-nats.ts
@@ -161,8 +161,11 @@ export async function connectNats(
   const subjectOfMine = node ? membershipSubject(node, self) : "";
   if (subjectOfMine) {
     try {
-      const got = await conn.request(`$JS.API.DIRECT.GET.${ASSIGNMENTS_STREAM}`,
-        sc.encode(JSON.stringify({ last_by_subj: subjectOfMine })), { timeout: 5_000 });
+      // The subject-addressed form of a direct get — the stream, then the subject, nothing in
+      // the body — because that is the one address the mesh grants this account on the
+      // stream's API; the body form asks the stream's root, which it may not.
+      const got = await conn.request(`$JS.API.DIRECT.GET.${ASSIGNMENTS_STREAM}.${subjectOfMine}`,
+        new Uint8Array(0), { timeout: 5_000 });
       const status = got.headers?.code ?? 0;
       if (status === 0 && got.data.length > 0) {
         issued = JSON.parse(sc.decode(got.data)) as Membership;