diff --git a/src/relay/dispatcher-client-lifecycle.ts b/src/relay/dispatcher-client-lifecycle.ts
index cdc1bf32e5c..672c51763e6 100644
--- a/src/relay/dispatcher-client-lifecycle.ts
+++ b/src/relay/dispatcher-client-lifecycle.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@ import type {
 } from './dispatcher-contract'
 import { RelayDispatcherClientState } from './dispatcher-client-state'
 
+// Why: a client that clears the endpoint handshake and then never frames anything is invisible to
+// the silence window -- it has no lastReceivedAt to go stale -- so its socket, writer and client
+// entry are held for the life of the relay. The bound is deliberately several windows wide: a real
+// client frames immediately after the handshake, so only a peer that is already gone reaches it.
+const SILENT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT_MS = TIMEOUT_MS * 6
+
 export abstract class RelayDispatcherClientLifecycle extends RelayDispatcherClientState {
   // Why: redirect outgoing frames to the reconnected socket without rebuilding the dispatcher + handler tree.
   // Why: a new multiplexer restarts at seq=1; reset state to avoid stalled acknowledgements.
@@ -122,6 +128,7 @@ export abstract class RelayDispatcherClientLifecycle extends RelayDispatcherClie
       bulkChain: Promise.resolve(),
       nextOutgoingSeq: 1,
       highestReceivedSeq: 0,
+      attachedAt: Date.now(),
       lastReceivedAt: null,
       keepaliveObserved: false,
       generation: 0,
@@ -146,6 +153,7 @@ export abstract class RelayDispatcherClientLifecycle extends RelayDispatcherClie
   protected resetClient(client: RelayClient): void {
     client.nextOutgoingSeq = 1
     client.highestReceivedSeq = 0
+    client.attachedAt = Date.now()
     client.lastReceivedAt = null
     client.keepaliveObserved = false
     client.decoder.reset()
@@ -185,8 +193,11 @@ export abstract class RelayDispatcherClientLifecycle extends RelayDispatcherClie
         if (client.closed) {
           continue
         }
-        if (resumedAfterPause && client.lastReceivedAt !== null) {
-          client.lastReceivedAt = now
+        if (resumedAfterPause) {
+          client.attachedAt = now
+          if (client.lastReceivedAt !== null) {
+            client.lastReceivedAt = now
+          }
         }
         client.writer.enqueue(
           'liveness',
@@ -220,20 +231,24 @@ export abstract class RelayDispatcherClientLifecycle extends RelayDispatcherClie
       if (client === this.primaryClient) {
         continue
       }
-      // Why the null check is not just defensive: a relay is launched before its client finishes
-      // handshaking, and on a slow link that can exceed the window. Reaping a client that has never
-      // spoken would break the connect it is still completing, so silence only counts against a
-      // client that has already proven it can talk.
+      if (client.closed) {
+        continue
+      }
+      // Why a client that has never spoken gets its own, much wider bound: a relay is launched
+      // before its client finishes handshaking, and on a slow link that can exceed the silence
+      // window, so judging it there would break the connect it is still completing. Leaving it
+      // unbounded instead held its socket and client entry forever.
+      if (client.lastReceivedAt === null) {
+        if (now - client.attachedAt > SILENT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT_MS) {
+          this.closeClient(client, new Error('Relay client never spoke'), true)
+        }
+        continue
+      }
       // Why keepaliveObserved gates this: not every client speaks the keepalive protocol. The
       // remote `orca` CLI sends one `orca.cli` request and waits for a result budgeted in minutes
       // (src/relay/remote-cli-timeout.ts), so judging it on inbound silence would kill
       // `terminal wait`, `--wait` and `orchestration ask` after 20s.
-      if (
-        client.closed ||
-        !client.keepaliveObserved ||
-        client.lastReceivedAt === null ||
-        now - client.lastReceivedAt <= TIMEOUT_MS
-      ) {
+      if (!client.keepaliveObserved || now - client.lastReceivedAt <= TIMEOUT_MS) {
         continue
       }
       this.closeClient(client, new Error('Relay client stopped answering'), true)
diff --git a/src/relay/dispatcher-contract.ts b/src/relay/dispatcher-contract.ts
index 85daa725bee..23c62431d2c 100644
--- a/src/relay/dispatcher-contract.ts
+++ b/src/relay/dispatcher-contract.ts
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ export type RelayClient = {
   bulkChain: Promise<void>
   nextOutgoingSeq: number
   highestReceivedSeq: number
+  // Why: a client that never frames anything has no staleness to measure, so the silence window
+  // cannot see it. Its attach time is the only clock it has.
+  attachedAt: number
   // Why: the relay had no inbound-liveness signal at all, so a half-open client was never reaped
   // and kept its owner lease and paused PTYs indefinitely.
   lastReceivedAt: number | null
diff --git a/src/relay/dispatcher-silent-client-reaper.test.ts b/src/relay/dispatcher-silent-client-reaper.test.ts
index 4fe44ad02fd..b26fdd6bf4d 100644
--- a/src/relay/dispatcher-silent-client-reaper.test.ts
+++ b/src/relay/dispatcher-silent-client-reaper.test.ts
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ describe('RelayDispatcher silent-client reaper', () => {
     expect(detachListener).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
   })
 
-  it('never reaps a client that has not spoken yet', () => {
+  it('does not judge a client that has not spoken yet by the silence window', () => {
     // A relay is launched before its client finishes handshaking, and on a slow link that can
     // outlast the window. Reaping there would break the connect the client is still completing.
     const detachListener = vi.fn()
@@ -74,6 +74,32 @@ describe('RelayDispatcher silent-client reaper', () => {
     expect(detachListener).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith(clientId, expect.anything())
   })
 
+  it('still bounds a client that never speaks at all', () => {
+    // Otherwise it is invisible to the silence window forever -- no lastReceivedAt to go stale --
+    // and its socket, writer and client entry are held for the life of the relay.
+    const detachListener = vi.fn()
+    dispatcher = new RelayDispatcher(() => true)
+    dispatcher.onClientDetached(detachListener)
+    const clientId = dispatcher.attachClient(() => true)
+
+    vi.advanceTimersByTime(TIMEOUT_MS * 7)
+
+    expect(detachListener).toHaveBeenCalledWith(clientId, 'local')
+  })
+
+  it("does not spend a mute client's connect budget while the host was suspended", () => {
+    // Same rebase the silence window gets: a paused process is not a peer that went away.
+    const detachListener = vi.fn()
+    dispatcher = new RelayDispatcher(() => true)
+    dispatcher.onClientDetached(detachListener)
+    const clientId = dispatcher.attachClient(() => true)
+
+    vi.setSystemTime(60 * 60_000)
+    vi.advanceTimersByTime(KEEPALIVE_SEND_MS)
+
+    expect(detachListener).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith(clientId, expect.anything())
+  })
+
   it('never reaps a client that does not send keepalives at all', () => {
     // The remote `orca` CLI opens the socket, sends one `orca.cli` request and then waits for a
     // result budgeted in minutes (remote-cli-timeout.ts: 5min default, 10min for wait, 11min for