Why is the mic already on, and why does the Fox orb go gray?

With voice commands enabled, the prompter opens the mic as soon as it loads so "Hey Fox" works before you press Start; the "Listening" chip at the top is normal. While you're reading, the Fox orb (bottom right) goes gray on standby but still hears "Hey Fox".

After about 3 minutes paused with no "Hey Fox", the orb dims and the mic closes. Click the orb or press Start to wake it. Quick edit (E) also closes the mic until you're done, and leaving the page closes it. If the microphone stops mid-read (a headset unplugged, another app taking it), the prompter says so and opens it again on its own; after three stops in a minute it gives up and leaves the reason on the status pill. To turn voice commands off entirely: Settings → "Voice commands" → "Enable voice commands".