--absolute asks for another form of time, not for one fewer fact

A never-heard node has no instant to print, so the timestamp language dropped
"never" back to the plain absent token and a contacts listing under --absolute
could no longer tell "we have not heard from it" from "this row has no heard
time". The absent word survives the switch; only the form of a real time changes.

Also drops a dead guard in the preferences writer.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

meshterm/tools/preferences.py

@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ class PreferencesTool(Tool):
 
         if changes:
             prefs.save()
-        if scripted and applied is not None and any(op[0] in ("set", "reset") for op in ops):
+        if scripted and any(op[0] in ("set", "reset") for op in ops):
             blocks.append(_written(applied, prefs))
 
         plural = "" if changes == 1 else "s"

meshterm/ui/fields.py

@@ -451,10 +451,17 @@ def _flag_cell(value: bool | None) -> str:
 
 
 def _time(value: Any, *, absent: str) -> str:
-    """Render a time in whichever language this run speaks (see :func:`when`)."""
-    if isinstance(value, datetime) or value is None:
-        return script.stamp(value) if _absolute() else script.age(value, absent=absent)
-    return normalise(value)  # pragma: no cover - a row holding something else is a bug
+    """Render a time in whichever language this run speaks (see :func:`when`).
+
+    ``absent`` survives the switch to timestamps, because it is not a rendering choice:
+    ``never`` says the event has not happened, and ``--absolute`` was asked for a different
+    *form* of time, not for one fewer fact.
+    """
+    if not isinstance(value, datetime) and value is not None:
+        return normalise(value)  # pragma: no cover - a row holding something else is a bug
+    if value is None:
+        return absent
+    return script.stamp(value) if _absolute() else script.age(value, absent=absent)
 
 
 def _absolute() -> bool:

tests/test_cli_contract.py

@@ -269,10 +269,12 @@ def test_contacts_names_every_node_bare_and_ages_every_time(run) -> None:  # noq
         age = line.split()[2]
         assert age in ("now", "never") or age[-1] in "mhdw"
 
+    # `--absolute` asks for a different *form* of time, not for one fewer fact, so
+    # `never` survives it: a node that has never been heard has no instant to print.
     absolute = result_lines(run("--absolute", "contacts"))[1:]
     for line in absolute:
         stamp = line.split()[2]
-        assert stamp == "-" or stamp[:4].isdigit()
+        assert stamp in ("-", "never") or stamp[:4].isdigit()
 
 
 def test_contacts_never_elides_a_key(run) -> None:  # noqa: ANN001