He could see it in her face, and in fact, Morpheus had chosen his words for exactly that reason. Balance. He knew what--who--Balance was to Nanshe. And he happened to like Harmonia. She was a lot less nuts than some of the gods, definitely.
Nanshe's face changed, saddened, and Morpheus reached forward and picked up the cup again. He wouldn't ask. It wasn't entirely his place to ask, was it? And besides, she was still speaking. She had more to say.
Dream took another drink of the tea and he felt a strong pull. A dream began, across the world, in Alaska. Alaska? Well. He was one to talk, wasn't he, sitting here in India.
"A forced choice would mean I didn't entirely agree with the decision I'd made," he said carefully.
Morpheus put the cup down, carefully, very carefully. The part of him that wasn't there, that had been pulled away to weave a landscape for someone that still meant more to him than he could calculate, was rattled. He furrowed his eyebrows and set the thing down and sat back into the couch again. Do not, he thought, pick anything else up until she's awake. You'll break it.
"My most adored," he thought aloud, and the irony of what he'd just said and where he'd just been--at least part of him--was not lost on Morpheus.
He shrugged. And he started to tick them off on his fingers, those that mattered. One hand got the underworld, one got everyone else. He'd start with everyone else, pretty sure of which side would end up with more.
"I care for Iris," he said, eyebrow raising. "I always have. And Harmonia, even if she doesn't know it. I respect Hera. Don't tell her she didn't top the list." Dream winked. "I honestly care for much of Olympus--anyone that dreams, and isn't cruel in their dreams, is a friend. Provided they can stand me."
He dropped his head toward his right shoulder and sighed. "I think you're asking me who I'd lay down my life for, right?"
Morpheus smiled. "Short list."
He raised his hand, and each name he said, Dream raised a finger until he had a full hand. "Nyx. Phantasus. My father. Persephone. Erebos." Morpheus smiled, realizing he need the other hand, too. The list was longer than he'd thought. "Oiyzs. Thanatos. Lethe. Philotes." And here it came, the one that sort of stung. The one that almost made him shatter that china cup into pieces. "Makaria."
All ten fingers were splayed out now. And Morpheus dropped them. "I know whose side I'd be on, Nanshe, if I couldn't see the other side." He straightened his head and smiled, sadly.