diff --git a/src/node/session/mod.rs b/src/node/session/mod.rs
index 59c6db4..f7be440 100644
--- a/src/node/session/mod.rs
+++ b/src/node/session/mod.rs
@@ -1315,36 +1315,14 @@ mod overlapping_epoch_tests {
         );
     }
 
-    // Rekey-trigger threshold: elapsed time (with symmetric jitter applied)
-    // OR the send counter crossing its configured bound.
-    #[test]
-    fn rekey_trigger_threshold_arithmetic() {
-        let after_secs = 100u64;
-        let after_messages = 1_000u64;
-
-        // Jitter is always within [-REKEY_JITTER_SECS, +REKEY_JITTER_SECS].
-        let (_s, recv) = xk_pair(1, 2);
-        let entry = entry_with_current(recv);
-        let jitter = entry.rekey_jitter_secs();
-        assert!(
-            jitter.abs() <= REKEY_JITTER_SECS,
-            "jitter within configured bound"
-        );
-
-        // Effective time threshold applies the symmetric jitter.
-        let effective_after = after_secs.saturating_add_signed(jitter);
-
-        // Reproduce the policy's OR predicate directly.
-        let triggers =
-            |elapsed: u64, counter: u64| elapsed >= effective_after || counter >= after_messages;
-
-        // Time arm: fires at/after the effective threshold, not below it.
-        assert!(!triggers(effective_after - 1, 0), "below time threshold");
-        assert!(triggers(effective_after, 0), "at time threshold");
-        // Counter arm: fires independently of elapsed time.
-        assert!(!triggers(0, after_messages - 1), "below counter threshold");
-        assert!(triggers(0, after_messages), "at counter threshold");
-    }
+    // The rekey trigger's own threshold arithmetic is tested against the real
+    // predicate in src/proto/fmp/tests/core.rs, which drives poll_rekey. A test
+    // here previously reproduced that OR predicate as a local closure and
+    // asserted against its own copy, so it could not fail for the reason it
+    // existed: deleting the counter arm from the trigger left it green. Its one
+    // assertion over real code, that a fresh entry's jitter lies within the
+    // symmetric bound, is covered over 100 samples by
+    // test_session_entry_rekey_jitter_in_range in src/node/tests/session.rs.
 
     // Dampening boundary: within `dampening_ms` of the peer's rekey msg1, local
     // initiation is suppressed; at/after the window it is not.
diff --git a/src/proto/fmp/tests/core.rs b/src/proto/fmp/tests/core.rs
index be9a3ab..03e8a7b 100644
--- a/src/proto/fmp/tests/core.rs
+++ b/src/proto/fmp/tests/core.rs
@@ -158,13 +158,37 @@ fn rekey_expired_drain_and_trigger_both_fire() {
     );
 }
 
+/// The send-counter arm of the rekey trigger, pinned at its boundary through
+/// the real `poll_rekey` rather than a reimplementation of its predicate.
+///
+/// Firing at the threshold catches the arm being deleted, its comparison
+/// narrowed to `>`, or its comparison inverted. The silence-below half is what
+/// this test adds over that: it catches the arm being *widened* below its
+/// configured bound. Measured rather than assumed — replacing the bound with
+/// `p.counter >= 1` reds exactly one test in the whole library suite, this one,
+/// while a bound removed altogether is already caught by the time arm's own
+/// negative tests.
+///
+/// The time arm is held off in both halves — `elapsed_secs` stays 0 against a
+/// 100 s threshold with no jitter — so the counter is provably what decides.
 #[test]
-fn rekey_triggers_on_counter() {
+fn rekey_counter_arm_fires_at_threshold_and_is_silent_below() {
     let fmp = Fmp::new();
-    let mut p = peer_snapshot(0x13);
-    p.counter = 1_000; // == after_messages
-    let actions = fmp.poll_rekey(vec![p], &cfg());
-    assert!(matches!(actions[0], ConnAction::InitiateRekey { .. }));
+
+    let mut below = peer_snapshot(0x13);
+    below.counter = 999; // one below after_messages
+    assert!(
+        fmp.poll_rekey(vec![below], &cfg()).is_empty(),
+        "a send counter one below the threshold must not trigger a rekey"
+    );
+
+    let mut at = peer_snapshot(0x13);
+    at.counter = 1_000; // == after_messages
+    let actions = fmp.poll_rekey(vec![at], &cfg());
+    assert!(
+        matches!(actions[0], ConnAction::InitiateRekey { .. }),
+        "a send counter at the threshold must trigger a rekey"
+    );
 }
 
 #[test]