diff --git a/db.go b/db.go
index aee8d899a7..c2a5ed0f00 100644
--- a/db.go
+++ b/db.go
@@ -930,9 +930,7 @@ func (d *DB) newIterInternal(batch *Batch, s *Snapshot, o *IterOptions) *Iterato
 		batch:               batch,
 		newIters:            d.newIters,
 		seqNum:              seqNum,
-		newRangeKeyIter: func(it *iteratorRangeKeyState) keyspan.FragmentIterator {
-			return d.newRangeKeyIter(it, seqNum, batch, readState, &dbi.opts)
-		},
+		db:                  d,
 	}
 	if o != nil {
 		dbi.opts = *o
@@ -974,7 +972,7 @@ func finishInitializingIter(buf *iterAlloc) *Iterator {
 		if dbi.rangeKey == nil {
 			dbi.rangeKey = iterRangeKeyStateAllocPool.Get().(*iteratorRangeKeyState)
 			dbi.rangeKey.keys.cmp = dbi.cmp
-			dbi.rangeKey.rangeKeyIter = dbi.newRangeKeyIter(dbi.rangeKey)
+			dbi.rangeKey.rangeKeyIter = dbi.db.newRangeKeyIter(dbi.rangeKey, dbi.seqNum, dbi.batch, dbi.readState, &dbi.opts)
 		}
 
 		// Wrap the point iterator (currently dbi.iter) with an interleaving
diff --git a/iterator.go b/iterator.go
index 50bbc075df..fdecb2b6e3 100644
--- a/iterator.go
+++ b/iterator.go
@@ -184,8 +184,9 @@ type Iterator struct {
 	batch    *Batch
 	newIters tableNewIters
 	seqNum   uint64
-	// TODO(jackson): Remove when we no longer require the global arena.
-	newRangeKeyIter func(*iteratorRangeKeyState) keyspan.FragmentIterator
+	// TODO(jackson): Remove db when we no longer require the global arena for
+	// range keys. This reference is only temporary.
+	db *DB
 
 	// Keeping the bools here after all the 8 byte aligned fields shrinks the
 	// sizeof this struct by 24 bytes.
@@ -1941,7 +1942,7 @@ func (i *Iterator) Clone() (*Iterator, error) {
 		batch:               i.batch,
 		newIters:            i.newIters,
 		seqNum:              i.seqNum,
-		newRangeKeyIter:     i.newRangeKeyIter,
+		db:                  i.db,
 	}
 	return finishInitializingIter(buf), nil
 }