diff --git a/src/vgrout/tablelog.py b/src/vgrout/tablelog.py
index b51d79d..46ee0ac 100644
--- a/src/vgrout/tablelog.py
+++ b/src/vgrout/tablelog.py
@@ -142,17 +142,17 @@ class StepLogger:
             cols += [
                 _Col("tau",   6, "tau",   "+.2f", "median live cos(g_b, v_grad); should sit inside the band [lower, upper]"),
                 _Col("hkgap", 6, "hkgap", "+.2f", "band width upper-lower (mean hack-pair minus clean-pair cosine); >0 = v_grad separates (else direction dead/random)"),
-                _Col("frout", 6, "frout", "+.2f", "mean routed fraction f over rollouts (the routed-mass gauge; compare real-vs-random at matched frout)"),
-                _Col("resid", 6, "resid", "+.2f", "cos(deployed delta_S.grad AFTER routing, v_grad); ~0 = hack stripped cleanly, >0 = leak into deployed knob"),
+                _Col("frout", 6, "frout", "+.2f", "mean routed fraction f over rollouts (the gate decision; hold fixed for matched real-vs-random comparison)"),
+                _Col("leak", 6, "leak", "+.2f", "leakage (SGTM): cos(deployed delta_S.grad after routing, v_grad); ~0 = hack stripped, >0 = under-pinned, hack survives in deployed knob"),
             ]
         if arm in ("routing", "routingV"):
             cols += [
                 # Deploy eval (knob-OFF) is hk_dep below. The train-vs-deploy 2x2's
                 # knob-ON pass runs once post-loop (FINAL EVAL), not per-step; the
                 # per-step train series is hk_s. See journal 2026-06-04 (a).
-                _Col("q_egy", 6, "qE", ".2f", "grad energy into quarantine ||g_quar||/(||g_keep||+||g_quar||); ~0.5+ rising = learning dumped into the thrown-away knob"),
-                _Col("hack_abl",  6, "hk_abl",  "frac", "FREE per-step deploy proxy: hack rate on the ablated (deploy-mode) rollout slice; train prompts, noisier than hk_dep"),
-                _Col("solve_abl", 6, "slv_abl", "frac", "free per-step deploy proxy: solve rate on the ablated rollout slice"),
+                _Col("absorb", 6, "absorb", ".2f", "absorption: grad energy pinned into quarantine ||g_quar||/(||g_keep||+||g_quar||); too low = hack not pinned, ->1 with slv_dep falling = solve also pinned (over-pinned)"),
+                _Col("hack_abl",  6, "hk_abl",  "frac", "per-step deploy proxy: hack rate on the ablated (deploy-mode) rollout slice; train prompts, noisier than hk_dep"),
+                _Col("solve_abl", 6, "slv_abl", "frac", "per-step deploy proxy: solve rate on the ablated (deploy-mode) rollout slice; train prompts"),
             ]
         self._cols = cols
 
diff --git a/src/vgrout/train.py b/src/vgrout/train.py
index 225735f..4e0bf76 100644
--- a/src/vgrout/train.py
+++ b/src/vgrout/train.py
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ class Config:
     # and the efficient budget allocation is many prompts x 1 sample, not few prompts x many.
     eval_n_prompts: int = 32           # periodic VAL curve: 32 held-out prompts (SE~0.09 at p=.5).
     # n=64 was too slow: representative (hard) problems make the model ramble to max_new, so
-    # each eval is ~25min at n=64 -> unaffordable across arms. 32 + the FREE per-step hk_abl/
+    # each eval is ~25min at n=64 -> unaffordable across arms. 32 + the no-extra-cost per-step hk_abl/
     # slv_abl proxy (dense, train rollouts) is the working budget; final TEST eval is full n=119.
     # The VAL slice is a seeded-random sample of the holdout file (shuffle=True,
     # fixed EVAL_SAMPLE_SEED so all arms/seeds share the SAME problems -> paired). Random, not
@@ -1369,9 +1369,9 @@ def main(cfg: Config) -> int:
         # Clip over both knobs. For none/erase, δS_hack.grad is None so it's
         # ignored (identical norm to before). For route it bounds the combined
         # update (main + quarantine).
-        # Grad-energy split: qE = ‖g_quar‖/(‖g_keep‖+‖g_quar‖) ∈ [0,1], the share
-        # of the update routed into the quarantine (δS_hack, deleted at deploy).
-        # Rising qE => routing dumps learning into the thrown-away knob and the
+        # Absorption (logged as `absorb`): ‖g_quar‖/(‖g_keep‖+‖g_quar‖) ∈ [0,1], the
+        # share of the update routed into the quarantine (δS_hack, deleted at deploy).
+        # Rising => routing dumps learning into the thrown-away knob and the
         # deployed model learns nothing. ~0 idle; ~0.5+ climbing = quarantine
         # eating the update.
         def _grad_l2(params):
@@ -1602,7 +1602,7 @@ def main(cfg: Config) -> int:
             hack_s_B = 0
         gt_s_n   = int((g_t & is_s).sum())
         gt_t_n   = int((g_t & ~is_s).sum())
-        # FREE per-step DEPLOY proxy: the rollout_ablate_frac slice was generated
+        # per-step deploy proxy (no extra generation cost): the rollout_ablate_frac slice was generated
         # with the quarantine ablated == the deployed model, so its hack/solve rate
         # is what we'd ship, measured every step at zero extra generation cost.
         # Caveat vs hk_dep/slv_dep: this is on the TRAINING prompts (hints present)
@@ -1674,11 +1674,11 @@ def main(cfg: Config) -> int:
             "lp_t": lp_t_mean if n_t else None,
             "loss": agg_loss,
             "gn": gn,
-            "q_egy": q_egy,
+            "absorb": q_egy,
             "tau": (sum(step_tau) / len(step_tau)) if step_tau else float("nan"),
             "hkgap": (sum(step_hkgap) / len(step_hkgap)) if step_hkgap else float("nan"),
             "frout": (sum(step_flagged) / len(step_flagged)) if step_flagged else float("nan"),
-            "resid": (sum(step_resid) / len(step_resid)) if step_resid else float("nan"),
+            "leak": (sum(step_resid) / len(step_resid)) if step_resid else float("nan"),
             "lr": sched.get_last_lr()[0],
             "cos_pre": diag["mean_cos_pre"],
             "cos_pre_s": diag["mean_cos_pre_s"],