diff --git a/service/clusterd.lua b/service/clusterd.lua
index b0ee6335..fc8b4126 100644
--- a/service/clusterd.lua
+++ b/service/clusterd.lua
@@ -65,9 +65,11 @@ local function send_request(source, node, addr, msg, sz)
 	local session = node_session[node] or 1
 	-- msg is a local pointer, cluster.packrequest will free it
 	local request, new_session = cluster.packrequest(addr, session, msg, sz)
-	local c = node_channel[node]
 	node_session[node] = new_session
 
+	-- node_channel[node] may yield or throw error
+	local c = node_channel[node]
+
 	return c:request(request, session)
 end