It's a moment before she answers, because it's sort of a...strange situation, and Zoe nibbles on her lower lip. "It doesn't matter to me," she says finally. "I don't think it really matters to Uncle Lucien and Aunt Olivia, either, or wouldn't if he seemed happy at Five. But he doesn't seem happy, and he was always pretty ambitious."

She shrugs a little. She doesn't realize it, but probably her aunt and uncle are addressing a symptom more than a problem. Focusing on rank because they don't know what to do with their occasionally listless son, who's suddenly embraced slackerdom.