PERSONAL SPACE

After a rough contract, Mara begins stripping damaged outer armor beside the open observation membrane. As more armor comes off, the Star-Sea view quietly darkens behind her. Suspicious, she tests the membrane and realizes nothing is malfunctioning: Grievance has deliberately made the wall opaque to give her privacy. For once, Mara’s dirty joke dies before she says it. She finishes changing in silence, touches the darkened membrane, and offers one word: “Good.” Relationship insight: This is trust through restraint. Grievance has learned a boundary Mara never explicitly demanded, proving the Bloom is changing it too. Mara recognizes care that does not require argument, supervision, or repayment.