diff --git a/internal/arenaskl/arena.go b/internal/arenaskl/arena.go
index 011c3b0247..587cb15bd9 100644
--- a/internal/arenaskl/arena.go
+++ b/internal/arenaskl/arena.go
@@ -80,14 +80,14 @@ func (a *Arena) Capacity() uint32 {
 // If overflow is not 0, it also ensures that many bytes after the buffer are
 // inside the arena (this is used for structures that are larger than the
 // requested size but don't use those extra bytes).
-func (a *Arena) alloc(size, alignment, overflow uint32) (uint32, uint32, error) {
+func (a *Arena) alloc(size, alignment, overflow uint32) (uint32, error) {
 	if invariants.Enabled && (alignment&(alignment-1)) != 0 {
 		panic(errors.AssertionFailedf("invalid alignment %d", alignment))
 	}
 	// Verify that the arena isn't already full.
 	origSize := a.n.Load()
 	if int(origSize) > len(a.buf) {
-		return 0, 0, ErrArenaFull
+		return 0, ErrArenaFull
 	}
 
 	// Pad the allocation with enough bytes to ensure the requested alignment.
@@ -95,12 +95,12 @@ func (a *Arena) alloc(size, alignment, overflow uint32) (uint32, uint32, error)
 
 	newSize := a.n.Add(padded)
 	if newSize+uint64(overflow) > uint64(len(a.buf)) {
-		return 0, 0, ErrArenaFull
+		return 0, ErrArenaFull
 	}
 
 	// Return the aligned offset.
 	offset := (uint32(newSize) - size) & ^(alignment - 1)
-	return offset, uint32(padded), nil
+	return offset, nil
 }
 
 func (a *Arena) getBytes(offset uint32, size uint32) []byte {
diff --git a/internal/arenaskl/arena_test.go b/internal/arenaskl/arena_test.go
index f264b8de4f..3f6b12291a 100644
--- a/internal/arenaskl/arena_test.go
+++ b/internal/arenaskl/arena_test.go
@@ -35,19 +35,19 @@ func TestArenaSizeOverflow(t *testing.T) {
 	a := newArena(constants.MaxUint32OrInt)
 
 	// Allocating under the limit throws no error.
-	offset, _, err := a.alloc(math.MaxUint16, 1, 0)
+	offset, err := a.alloc(math.MaxUint16, 1, 0)
 	require.Nil(t, err)
 	require.Equal(t, uint32(1), offset)
 	require.Equal(t, uint32(math.MaxUint16)+1, a.Size())
 
 	// Allocating over the limit could cause an accounting
 	// overflow if 32-bit arithmetic was used. It shouldn't.
-	_, _, err = a.alloc(math.MaxUint32, 1, 0)
+	_, err = a.alloc(math.MaxUint32, 1, 0)
 	require.Equal(t, ErrArenaFull, err)
 	require.Equal(t, uint32(constants.MaxUint32OrInt), a.Size())
 
 	// Continuing to allocate continues to throw an error.
-	_, _, err = a.alloc(math.MaxUint16, 1, 0)
+	_, err = a.alloc(math.MaxUint16, 1, 0)
 	require.Equal(t, ErrArenaFull, err)
 	require.Equal(t, uint32(constants.MaxUint32OrInt), a.Size())
 }
diff --git a/internal/arenaskl/node.go b/internal/arenaskl/node.go
index ad66d2fe17..449294f0b9 100644
--- a/internal/arenaskl/node.go
+++ b/internal/arenaskl/node.go
@@ -49,7 +49,12 @@ type node struct {
 	keySize    uint32
 	keyTrailer base.InternalKeyTrailer
 	valueSize  uint32
-	allocSize  uint32
+
+	// Padding to align tower on an 8-byte boundary, so that 32-bit and 64-bit
+	// architectures use the same memory layout for node. Needed for tests which
+	// expect a certain struct size. The padding can be removed if we add or
+	// remove a field from the node.
+	_ [4]byte
 
 	// Most nodes do not need to use the full height of the tower, since the
 	// probability of each successive level decreases exponentially. Because
@@ -95,7 +100,7 @@ func newRawNode(arena *Arena, height uint32, keySize, valueSize uint32) (nd *nod
 	unusedSize := uint32((maxHeight - int(height)) * linksSize)
 	nodeSize := uint32(maxNodeSize) - unusedSize
 
-	nodeOffset, allocSize, err := arena.alloc(nodeSize+keySize+valueSize, nodeAlignment, unusedSize)
+	nodeOffset, err := arena.alloc(nodeSize+keySize+valueSize, nodeAlignment, unusedSize)
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
@@ -104,7 +109,6 @@ func newRawNode(arena *Arena, height uint32, keySize, valueSize uint32) (nd *nod
 	nd.keyOffset = nodeOffset + nodeSize
 	nd.keySize = keySize
 	nd.valueSize = valueSize
-	nd.allocSize = allocSize
 	return
 }