diff --git a/src/node/handlers/rekey.rs b/src/node/handlers/rekey.rs
index a2fe719c..7379c5c8 100644
--- a/src/node/handlers/rekey.rs
+++ b/src/node/handlers/rekey.rs
@@ -126,13 +126,14 @@ impl Node {
         };
 
         // The shell snapshots each peer's rekey ages/flags (every clock
-        // read resolved here); the core decides cutover/drain/trigger with no
-        // clock, phase-grouped to preserve the pre-refactor execution order.
-        // The batch `poll_rekey` + snapshots STAY SHELL-SIDE and BYTE-UNCHANGED:
-        // the cross-peer phase-grouping (all Cutover → all Drain →
-        // all InitiateRekey) governs the shared `index_allocator` free-then-alloc
-        // SEQUENCE that appears on the wire. The machine must NOT re-poll; it
-        // CONSUMES each decided `ConnAction` in the same order the batch returned.
+        // read resolved here); the core decides cutover, drain, retirement and
+        // trigger with no clock and returns the actions phase-grouped: all
+        // Cutover, then all Drain, then all RetirePending, then all
+        // InitiateRekey. That grouping fixes the shared `index_allocator`
+        // free-then-allocate sequence that appears on the wire, so the batch
+        // `poll_rekey` call stays here in the shell. The machine must NOT
+        // re-poll; it CONSUMES each decided `ConnAction` in the order the batch
+        // returned.
         let snapshots = self.rekey_peers();
         for action in self.fmp.poll_rekey(snapshots, &cfg) {
             match action {
diff --git a/src/node/tests/discovery.rs b/src/node/tests/discovery.rs
index d55f4f45..2bf4b64c 100644
--- a/src/node/tests/discovery.rs
+++ b/src/node/tests/discovery.rs
@@ -670,12 +670,25 @@ fn register_peers(node: &mut Node, count: usize) -> Vec<crate::NodeAddr> {
         .collect()
 }
 
+/// A node whose dedup entries cannot age out while a flood test runs.
+///
+/// The handler stamps each entry with the wall clock and purges entries older
+/// than `recent_expiry_secs` (10 s by default) on every arrival. The flood
+/// tests below measure capacity, not expiry, and a 4096-request flood on a
+/// loaded host can take longer than the default, so the earliest entries
+/// would be purged before the test reads the cache.
+fn unexpiring_node() -> Node {
+    let mut config = Config::new();
+    config.node.lookup.recent_expiry_secs = 86_400;
+    make_node_with(config)
+}
+
 #[tokio::test]
 async fn test_a_full_dedup_cache_admits_the_new_request_by_evicting_the_oldest() {
     // A full cache used to drop the arriving request, which let one peer
     // spend 4096 fresh request_ids and stop the node forwarding anyone
     // else's lookups until the entries aged out.
-    let mut node = make_node();
+    let mut node = unexpiring_node();
     let from = make_node_addr(0xAA);
 
     flood_requests(&mut node, &from, 1, MAX_RECENT_LOOKUP_REQUESTS as u64).await;
@@ -746,11 +759,16 @@ async fn test_a_node_whose_dedup_cache_is_flooded_still_answers_a_lookup_for_its
     // The availability claim. Filling the cache used to make the node
     // unresolvable, because the cache-full drop sat ahead of the check for
     // whether the request names us.
-    let mut node = make_node();
+    let mut node = unexpiring_node();
     let flooder = make_node_addr(0xAA);
     let other = make_node_addr(0xAB);
 
     flood_requests(&mut node, &flooder, 1, MAX_RECENT_LOOKUP_REQUESTS as u64).await;
+    assert_eq!(
+        node.lookup.recent_requests.len(),
+        MAX_RECENT_LOOKUP_REQUESTS,
+        "precondition: the cache is full, or the lookup below is not tested against a flood"
+    );
 
     let my_addr = *node.node_addr();
     let payload = lookup_request_payload(u64::MAX, &my_addr);
diff --git a/src/proto/fmp/core.rs b/src/proto/fmp/core.rs
index 82b6a630..6df59200 100644
--- a/src/proto/fmp/core.rs
+++ b/src/proto/fmp/core.rs
@@ -523,8 +523,7 @@ impl Fmp {
     }
 
     /// Decide the per-tick rekey choreography for the peers the shell
-    /// snapshotted. Reproduces the pre-refactor priority and phase grouping
-    /// exactly:
+    /// snapshotted, in this priority:
     ///
     /// - **Cutover** takes precedence: a peer with a pending session this node
     ///   initiated and no in-flight rekey cuts over and is considered for
@@ -536,7 +535,7 @@ impl Fmp {
     ///   trigger fires when the peer is neither mid-rekey, dampened, nor
     ///   holding a pending session, and its jittered time threshold or send
     ///   counter is reached. A draining peer can thus both drain and
-    ///   re-trigger in the same tick, as before.
+    ///   re-trigger in the same tick.
     ///
     /// Actions are returned phase-grouped (all cutovers, then all drains, then
     /// all retirements, then all rekey initiations) to preserve the global