Three months into training, something broke.
Not Kaine—though she felt constantly on the edge of breaking. Not the training schedule—Tessern maintained strict discipline. Not boundaries—those were holding, mostly.
What broke was Archive consciousness.
It happened during a routine documentation session. Archive was recording Kaine's progress, cataloging techniques learned, noting boundary-maintenance improvements. Standard practice. Nothing unusual.
Then Archive consciousness stopped mid-sentence.
"I can't do this anymore," it said.
Kaine felt confusion ripple through consciousness-space. "Can't do what? The documentation?"
"Can't watch this. Can't enable this. Can't pretend I'm helping when I'm destroying you. Can't maintain observer position when I'm active participant in your corruption. Can't. Just can't."
Tessern arrived immediately, sensing disturbance. "What's happening?"
"Archive is malfunctioning," Kaine said uncertainly.
