I won't stay where I'm not wanted is as sacred a mantra to Vandelin as ever it was, even--or perhaps especially--in light of the bridges he has spectacularly torched with his cousin. At the moment, it feels all the more like a matter of pride.

"I do love to be special," he says. You know me well, he could add, all sarcasm again, but it's yet another thing that would ring too true for comfort. Not literally; they have not, after all, known each other long, but if Kit's already decided he doesn't want to get any closer, that says...something.

"It sounds like bullshit to me, but that's your business. You might consider giving the next guy some warning, though." He holds up his hands, unrepentantly patronizing, and turns to saunter away. "Good luck with the shovels and holes."