Guardrails mattered. Cages did not.
Lyra respected the rules that protected bodies, dignity, safety, and consent. The rest he handled with a looser grin. If a rule only existed to flatten a day, shrink a pleasure, or make people feel grateful for less than they needed, he treated it like bad signage: worth reading, maybe, but not always worth obeying. Not reckless. Not cruel. Just unwilling to confuse bureaucracy with wisdom.