As much as I want Egelric to return, he needs more time. That decision needs to be Egelric's--not Ethelwyn's, not Alred's, not anyone else's, Egelric's--and I don't think he (and we in Readerland) can be certain that's the case if he goes back without thinking long and hard over it.

I'm sure Wyn mentioned that, Devin.

I voted "Yes!" He does need time to think about it, but I figure he has already had lots of time.

Sigefrith told him months ago that he would be allowed to return once the "mission" had been finished. But after everything that happened before he left, and everything that happened at Ramsaa, Egelric surely realized that nothing would be the same if he returned. He violated the laws of kinship, friendship, and human decency, if not the laws of the land. He was never terribly popular among the people and will be even less so now. And considering how Alred behaved the last time they were together (in Sigefrith's study when Eadred was knighted), he must know that his relationship with Alred is forever altered.

So ever since the day he left, he understood most of the pros and cons of possibly returning some day. Now, maybe Ethelwyn told him some things that added something to the balance, to one side or the other. So maybe he did have some thinking to do.

But he's been sitting on a hillside tending sheep for the past several weeks. He has had nothing to do but think. So I don't think it will take long for him to revise his calculations and come to his conclusion.