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"No, I don't think Armenia is home either," she said. "And Battle School sure wasn't, nor Eros. This is home, though. I mean, Ribeirao Preto. But here, too. Because ... my family's here, of course, but. . ."
And then she realized what she was trying to say.
"It's because you're here. Because you're the one who went through it all with me. You're the one who knows what I'm talking about. What I'm remembering. Ender. That terrible day with Bonzo. And the day I fell asleep in the middle of a battle on Eros. You think you have shame." She laughed. "But it's OK to remember even that with you. Because you knew about that, and you still came to get me out."
"Took me long enough," said Bean.
They walked out of the cemetery toward the train station, holding hands because neither of them wanted to feel separate right now.
"I have an idea," said Petra. "What?"
"If you ever change your mind-you know, about marrying and having babies-hang on to my address. Look me up."
Bean was silent for a long moment. "Ali," he finally said, "I get it. I rescued the princess, so now I can marry her if I want."
"That's the deal."
"Yeah, well, I notice you didn't mention it until after you heard my vow of celibacy." "I suppose that was perverse of me."
"Besides, it's a cheat. Aren't I supposed to get half the kingdom, too?"
"I've got a better idea," she answered. "You can have it all."
AFTERWORD
Just as Speaker for the Dead was a different kind of novel from Ender's Game, so also is Shadow of the Hegemon a different kind of book from Ender's Shadow. No longer are we in the close confines of Battle School or the asteroid Eros, fighting a war against insectoid aliens. Now, with Hegemon, we are on Earth, playing what amounts to a huge game of Risk-only you have to play politics and diplomacy as well in order to get power, hold onto it, and give yourself a place to land if you lose it.