through me the universe will know itself

When speaking with his father, Julien talks again about Thjazi's choices:

Raimond: "It was a tragedy and a heartbreak that he ended up on the other side of the Falconer's Rebellion." Julien: "Every man makes their choices. I'm sorry that I was the consequence of his."

Julien also makes it clear in this conversation that a large part of why he hates Thjazi is the effect that Thjazi had on the people that he loves: "To have you turn away and throw our entire house's name and-- For friendship with that man. The glory was mine, yes, but you? You sullied everything. So I don't forgive him for what he did to you. As much as I don't forgive him for what he did to Aranessa."

This is something that we can reflect on again in terms of what Julien says in 4x031 about Thjazi: "You all have been tricked by a person with endless charisma and cult-like personality."

He thinks that Aranessa and Raimond fell victim to a cult-leader, essentially. He feels like Aranessa and Raimond were tricked by Thjazi into making bad choices.

The fight in 4x014 brings us back to that idea of choice leading to unavoidable consequences:

Matt: "Asked to stand down, do the men with the spears who've been attacking Thaisha look like they took the command?" Brennan: "Only the ballista have. These other guards down here have not been interrupted." Matt: "Well then, they made their choice."

He attacks them and gives no quarter. They made their choice, they chose their side, and there is nothing else to say.

In episode 4x016, Julien holds an impromptu interrogation of the party to try to get their motives on the table, and he explains why: "I'm an instrument of war. I've been raised to be and honed to be. My effectiveness is only based on the information I have. That's how I make tactical choices. I ask these questions so that I have information. Not to judge you, but just to ensure that I can keep myself safe and those I trust around me."

Making (smart) tactical choices is how Julien keeps himself safe.

Then we get three fun examples in rapid succession in 4x031:

About Teor going to the wrong location: "That was his choice."

About Thimble going back in to try to save Teor: "That's her choice."

But then when he's trying to defend Occtis against people saying that he left Thimble behind, Julien says, "We had no other choice" (other than to flee). Because to Julien, that is the only choice that should exist at that point. Staying would mean choosing death.

Looking at Julien's behavior in 4x031, and then looking at what he says to Aranessa in 4x001, he is very much approaching Occtis the same way:

And we are here and we can mourn as you feel is necessary, but we also live because we have been smart and we will continue to live.

This is exactly what he was urging Occtis to do the entire episode. He urged Occtis to do the smart thing ("You have a big brain, supposedly still") and to choose to live rather than risk his life trying to save someone that Julien had determined had already made the choice to throw her life away. That was her choice, Julien says, and also, he makes clear, we need to make a different one. And he is so relieved when Occtis is finally willing to make the 'smart' choice to leave Thimble behind because it's too dangerous to stay.

But Julien, himself, is not willing to leave Occtis behind. He is not making the smart choice that he is stridently arguing that Occtis needs to make. Instead, he chooses to follow Occtis even back into the manor itself, in the hopes that he can convince Occtis not to throw his life away.