“Tiago decided he enjoyed armchair warfare. It was so comfortable, and there were pastries.”

“That’s why I quit,” said Tiago. He popped another pastry into his mouth.”

“She thought of him sprawled in the armchair in the downstairs study, calmly demolishing pastry after pastry while Aubrey looked at him in shock. Or what about that god-awful dinner? A variety of people looked daggers at him and tried several times to deliver a direct verbal cut, while he plowed through alarming amounts of beautifully prepared food with evident enjoyment for the cuisine and a monumental indifference for anybody else’s opinion.”

“They were having an argument as old and comfortable as an armchair, the kind of argument that no one ever really wins or loses but which can go on forever, if both parties are willing.”

“These jokers were not that complicated. Death-by-stupidity was the cause as far as Tiago was concerned.”

“I see,” said Aubrey, but Tiago was sure he didn’t yet.”