diff --git a/doc.go b/doc.go
index 949e257..8d1b118 100644
--- a/doc.go
+++ b/doc.go
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ package fejkdata
 //     iteration of a `template.repeat`.
 //   - hold — keeping one draw of a name, so every route to it reads that value:
 //     an expansion holds a sibling path's head and an operand's field, its draw
-//     group a reference path's: `formatOps.held`, `formatOps.keepsHold`, `heldCheck`.
+//     group a reference path's: `formatOps.held` and `heldCheck` an expansion's,
+//     `readReference` a draw group's.
 //   - memo — what a hold or a draw group keeps its draws in, the variant drawn at
 //     each level and the value each path read: `drawMemo`, `readMemo`.
 //   - draw group — reference draws kept apart inside one render:
diff --git a/format.go b/format.go
index 3a93418..7f64949 100644
--- a/format.go
+++ b/format.go
@@ -381,12 +381,12 @@ type op struct {
 }
 
 // formatOps is a compiled format: its ops, the size of its literal text, and the
-// names it holds: every head a path starts from, plus the fields an operand reads.
+// names its expansion holds: every head a path that is not a reference starts from,
+// plus the fields an operand reads.
 type formatOps struct {
-	ops       []op
-	grow      int
-	held      map[string]firstReach
-	keepsHold bool // some held name is not a reference path, so expand makes a hold
+	ops  []op
+	grow int
+	held map[string]firstReach
 }
 
 // firstReach is how a format first reaches a held name: the reader holding it, for
@@ -397,12 +397,12 @@ type firstReach struct {
 }
 
 func (c *formatOps) holdName(a arm, label string) {
+	if isRef(a.head) && len(a.tail) > 0 {
+		return
+	}
 	if c.held == nil {
 		c.held = map[string]firstReach{}
 	}
-	if !isRef(a.head) || len(a.tail) == 0 {
-		c.keepsHold = true
-	}
 	h, seen := c.held[a.head]
 	if !seen {
 		h.holder = label
diff --git a/holdfence.go b/holdfence.go
index 6f5bfd0..9b03056 100644
--- a/holdfence.go
+++ b/holdfence.go
@@ -17,9 +17,6 @@ func heldCheck(path string, n node) error {
 	}
 	readers := pathHeadReaders(t.compiled)
 	for _, name := range heldNames(t) {
-		if t.compiled.held[name].path != "" && isRef(name) {
-			continue // held for the render: drawFence compares every read of it, by path, across the render and its groups
-		}
 		if err := checkNameHeld(t, name, readers); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", path, err)
 		}
@@ -201,12 +198,12 @@ func pathHeadReaders(c formatOps) []reader {
 	var names []reader
 	for _, o := range c.ops {
 		for _, a := range o.operands {
-			if c.held[a.head].path != "" && !isRef(a.head) {
+			if c.held[a.head].path != "" {
 				names = append(names, reader{a, fmt.Sprintf("%s operand %q", o.fn, a.spelling)})
 			}
 		}
 		for _, a := range o.arms {
-			if c.held[a.head].path != "" && !isRef(a.head) {
+			if c.held[a.head].path != "" {
 				names = append(names, reader{a, "token {" + a.spelling + "}"})
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/render.go b/render.go
index e6f83f7..08da588 100644
--- a/render.go
+++ b/render.go
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ func expand(s *generatorState, t *template, sc renderScope) string {
 	// repeat iteration get their own, since each is its own expansion. A reference
 	// path reads its draw group's memo in sc instead.
 	var hold *drawMemo
-	if t.compiled.keepsHold {
+	if len(t.compiled.held) > 0 {
 		hold = &drawMemo{
 			variant: make(map[string]node, len(t.compiled.held)),
 			value:   make(map[string]readValue, len(t.compiled.held)),
diff --git a/todo.md b/todo.md
index 1236cb0..457c85e 100644
--- a/todo.md
+++ b/todo.md
@@ -37,10 +37,6 @@ on 2026-09-29 a fifth time (Navigation 6.9, Locality 5.2, Shape 6.1, Self-suffic
 
 This round, in order:
 
-- Split `formatOps.held` into the names an expansion holds and the reference paths a
-  render's draws hold, deleting `keepsHold` and `heldCheck`'s skip of a reference path:
-  one map carries both, told apart by `isRef` and `firstReach.path == ""`, and six seats
-  hunted for which fence owns which.
 - Give `surveyAt`'s whole read one field, its table and pins together, rename
   `alternatives` for what it answers, two reads that never render together, and say at
   `check` why a level landing on a row may sit beside a path into it: five seats held