"You do. It's hardly a glorious one, but you do have a choice. I cannot—will not—force you to do anything, Reuben."

If offered the option some years prior, would he have made his brother take a more conventional path in life, be a more useful member of society? Probably not, Aldous realized, though he had long questioned some of his brother's more colourful life choices.

"It wouldn't—It wouldn't need to be the full six months," he added hesitantly. "Just long enough. I thought it might upset you, though, if I turned up without a return." A chuckle, strained though it was, left him there.

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