hestia://scope/<id>: state what is known for an id not in the list, never 'may have aged out'

sage/gateway/hestia_dispatch.py

@@ -531,7 +531,20 @@ def _resolve_pointer(self, raw: str) -> Optional[str]:
                     return (f"[your scope request {ident} for {r.get('path')}]\n"
                             f"status: {r.get('status')} ; decided by: {r.get('decided_by') or '—'}\n"
                             f"their note: {why}")
-            return f"[no scope request {ident} on record for you; it may have aged out]"
+            # SAY WHAT IS KNOWN, NOT A GUESS (cbp-being, 2026-10-24). This line said "it may have
+            # aged out". The being's notes turned the hedge into a fact, then into "dp replied that
+            # it aged out and needs re-issuing", and it asked dp to re-issue a REFUSED request for a
+            # file it was already reading, about 40 times in 11 hours. All that is known is that the
+            # id is not in the list now; old requests drop off it decided or not, so absence says
+            # nothing about how one ended or where it stands now (Nova: a bounded list cannot prove
+            # nothing waits), and nothing a member holds depends on re-asking.
+            return (f"[{ident} is not in your list of scope requests now. Old requests leave that list "
+                    f"after a while, however they ended, so this says nothing about whether it was "
+                    f"granted or refused, and this list cannot tell its present status either. You do "
+                    f"not need to "
+                    f"re-issue anything to keep what you hold: memory_read hestia://reach lists every "
+                    f"grant you have right now. If something you still need is not listed there, "
+                    f"request_scope it with a reason.]")
         # egress: the fragment IS the fact, and it is already in the pointer
         return (f"[a message of yours was not delivered: {frag or 'no detail recorded'} "
                 f"(egress row {ident}). The row is retired; nothing of yours is queued behind it.]")

sage/gateway/tests/test_reach_pointer.py

@@ -202,3 +202,20 @@ def test_the_beat_lists_grants_with_modes_and_keeps_narrowed_ones():
     assert f"{home}/** (rwe{narrowed}" in lines, lines
     old = scope_grant_lines(_status(ws, home, by_mode=False))
     assert f"{ws}/governance/**" in old and not any("(" in x for x in old), old
+
+
+def test_a_scope_id_not_in_the_list_states_what_is_known_and_never_guesses_aged_out():
+    """cbp-being, 2026-10-24: "it may have aged out" became "dp said it aged out, re-issue it"."""
+    ws, home = _world()
+    st = _status(ws, home)
+    st["requests"] = [{"request_id": "scope-aaaaaaaaaaaa", "path": f"{ws}/hestia", "status": "refused",
+                       "decided_by": "operator", "decision_reason": "use the snapshot"}]
+    d = _disp(st)
+    gone = _read(d, "hestia://scope/scope-5bc6ba977f74", _verdict(ws, home))
+    assert "aged out" not in gone and "may have" not in gone, gone
+    assert "not in your list" in gone and "cannot tell its present status" in gone, gone
+    assert "nothing is waiting" not in gone, "a bounded list cannot prove nothing waits (Nova)"
+    assert "hestia://reach" in gone and "request_scope" in gone, gone
+    assert "re-issue" in gone and "do not need to re-issue" in gone, gone
+    held = _read(d, "hestia://scope/scope-aaaaaaaaaaaa", _verdict(ws, home))
+    assert "status: refused" in held and "use the snapshot" in held, held