diff --git a/tests/test_worker_control.py b/tests/test_worker_control.py
index 84b6251..e2e31f2 100644
--- a/tests/test_worker_control.py
+++ b/tests/test_worker_control.py
@@ -273,9 +273,14 @@ def test_one_lane_failing_does_not_stop_the_others(monkeypatch):
 def test_a_lane_disabled_in_settings_but_still_consuming_is_stopped(monkeypatch):
     """The case that made `consuming` necessary: a lane turned off while its
     worker was down comes back consuming, and must be stopped when it
-    returns."""
+    returns.
+
+    Its live pool is ONE — zero slots means zero WORK, not an empty pool.
+    billiard will not run one, and the process is what the enable switch lands
+    on.
+    """
     control = _stub_control(monkeypatch)
-    _stub_live(monkeypatch, "ml", pools={"host-a": 0}, consuming={"ml"})
+    _stub_live(monkeypatch, "ml", pools={"host-a": 1}, consuming={"ml"})
 
     result = wc.reconcile_lanes_sync({"ml": (0, False)})
 
@@ -286,9 +291,16 @@ def test_a_lane_disabled_in_settings_but_still_consuming_is_stopped(monkeypatch)
 def test_an_already_disabled_lane_is_not_cancelled_again(monkeypatch):
     """The other half of the fixed point. `cancel_consumer` on a queue that is
     not being consumed succeeds and does nothing, so an unconditional
-    reconcile would churn here forever with no symptom."""
+    reconcile would churn here forever with no symptom.
+
+    The live pool is ONE, not zero. This fixture said zero until the floor
+    landed, and it was describing a container that cannot exist — billiard
+    will not run an empty pool, and the generator starts ml at one process for
+    exactly that reason. A fixture in an impossible state passes for the wrong
+    reason and then fails on the correct fix, which is what it did.
+    """
     control = _stub_control(monkeypatch)
-    _stub_live(monkeypatch, "ml", pools={"host-a": 0}, consuming=set())
+    _stub_live(monkeypatch, "ml", pools={"host-a": 1}, consuming=set())
 
     result = wc.reconcile_lanes_sync({"ml": (0, False)})
 
@@ -692,30 +704,6 @@ def test_a_lane_at_zero_slots_is_never_shrunk_to_an_empty_pool(monkeypatch):
     assert control.shrank == [], "tried to empty a pool billiard will not empty"
 
 
-def test_that_lane_then_reports_nothing_to_do(monkeypatch):
-    """The fixed point. It is not enough to stop sending the doomed message —
-    the reconcile must also stop CALLING the lane changed, or the log fills
-    with a correction that never corrects anything."""
-    _stub_control(monkeypatch)
-    _stub_live(monkeypatch, "ml", pools={"host-a": 1}, consuming=set())
-
-    result = wc.reconcile_lanes_sync({"ml": (0, False)})
-
-    assert result["changed"] == []
-
-
-def test_zero_slots_still_means_zero_work(monkeypatch):
-    """The floor is one PROCESS, not one consumer. A lane at zero keeps an
-    idle worker so the enable switch has something to reach, and stays off
-    because its queues are cancelled."""
-    control = _stub_control(monkeypatch)
-    _stub_live(monkeypatch, "ml", pools={"host-a": 1}, consuming={"ml"})
-
-    wc.reconcile_lanes_sync({"ml": (0, False)})
-
-    assert control.cancelled == [("ml", ["host-a"])]
-
-
 def test_the_floor_applies_to_a_direct_resize_too(monkeypatch):
     """Not only the reconcile — the UI dial and the autoscaler go through the
     same function, so the clamp belongs there rather than at each caller."""