"But, you see, I need to know what India gets in return."
"What every nation in the FPE receives. Peace. Protection. Free trade. Human rights and elections."
"That's what you give to Nigeria," said Virlomi.
"That's what we give to Vanuatu and Kiribati, too. And the United States and Russia and China and, yes, India, when they choose to join us."
"India is the most populous nation on Earth. And she's spent the past three years fighting for her survival. She needs more than mere protection. She needs a special place near the center of power."
"But I'm not the center of power," said Peter. "I'm not a king."
"I know who you are," said Virlomi.
"Who am I?" He seemed amused.
"You're Genghis. Washington. Bismarck. A builder of empires. A uniter of peoples. A maker of nations."
"I'm the breaker of nations, Virlomi," said Peter. "We'll keep the word nation, but it will come to mean what state means in America. An administrative unit, but little more. India will have a great history, but from now on, we'll have human history."
"How very noble," said Virlomi. This was not going as she intended. "I think you don't understand what I'm offering you."
"You're offering me something I want very much--India in the FPE. But the price you want me to pay is too high."
"Price!" Was he really that stupid. "To have me is not a price you pay. It's a sacrifice I make."
"And who says romance is dead," said Peter. "Virlomi, you're a Battle Schooler. Surely you can see why it's impossible for me to marry my way into having India in the FPE."
Only then, in the moment of his challenge, did the whole thing become clear. Not the world as she saw it, centered on India, but the world as he saw it, with himself at the center of everything.
"So it's all about you," said Virlomi. "You can't share power with another."
"I can share power with everybody," said Peter, "and I already am. Only a fool thinks he can rule alone. You can only rule by the willing obedience and cooperation of those you supposedly rule over. They have to want you to lead them. And if I married you--attractive as the offer is on every count--I would no longer be seen as an honest broker. Instead of trusting me to lead the FPE's foreign and military policy to the benefit of the whole world, I would be seen as tilting everything toward India."
"Not everything," she said.
"More than everything," said Peter. "I would be seen as the tool of India. You can be sure that Caliph Alai would immediately declare war, not just on India, which has his troops all over it, but on the FPE. I'd be faced with bloody war in Sudan and Nubia, which I don't want."
"Why would you fear it?"
"Why wouldn't I?" he said.
"You have Bean," she said. "How can Alai stand against you?"
"Well," said Peter, "if Bean is so all powerful and irresistible, why do I need you?"
"Because Bean can never be as fully trusted as a wife. And Bean doesn't bring you a billion people."
"Virlomi," said Peter, "I'd be a fool to trust you, wife or not. You wouldn't be bringing India into the FPE, you'd be bringing the FPE into India."
"Why not a partnership?"
"Because gods don't need mortal partners," said Peter. "You've been a god too long. There's no man you can marry, as long as you think you're elevating him just by letting him touch you."
"Don't say what you can't unsay," said Virlomi.
"Don't make me say what's so hard to hear," said Peter. "I'm not going to compromise my leadership of the whole FPE just to get one country to join."
He meant it. He actually thought his position was above hers. He thought he was greater than India! Greater than a god! That he would diminish himself by taking what she offered.