Once, playing a four man game of chess with his little brother, Vajradhaara couldn't help but wonder aloud how much his brother could really think. Firstly nobody played that elaborate game which had ten times the rules as normal two person chess. Vajradhaara himself learnt the game because he hated bantering with the nobles and ministers when they pull him into the tea time activities in the main courtyard in the afternoons. At least chess could give him something to focus on. Secondly, his little brother was moving three people's pieces, playing against himself three-way, as well as his brother. And thirdly, he wasn't even playing for fun, but also demonstrating how in the last fifty years, Rtadhara had been forced into a corner, passively reacting to how other people had been moving their pieces, but hasn't been making any moves itself. Fourthly and of course, finally, he made his brother that 'corner' and didn't allow him to play anything but a defensive game even though he was just playing for himself and Vajradandaka was playing for three!

At that time, Sarapriya had turned sixteen. The date of her wedding had just been fixed. One side of the board game was supposed to represent the Abhaya kingdom and the two other sides represented two major alliances within the trade coalition of four major kingdoms. One was formed by Pranaya, the Sun kingdom and Thiratha, the Fire kingdom. The other alliance was formed by Hangi, the Water kingdom and Dhija, the kingdom of Love and Friendship. The final side was played by Vajradhaara and it represented Rtadhara. In the game, Vajradandaka proposed the theory that the trade coalition, which represented a loose alliance between the four major kingdoms was formed in order to suppress and take over the sovereignty of Abhaya. Once taken over, Abhaya would be cut up and swallowed by the four major kingdoms. This was the reason Abhaya didn't join the coalition. Meanwhile, Rtadhara didn't join because not only Indra Nihapriya intuit the true reason behind the coalition, he also believed that developing trade with the outside world was more important than fixating on dryland kingdoms which have thousands of generations of trade history already. When it comes to trade, the dryland nations have already reached a saturation point. Developing it anymore would only cause the quality of life of the dryland people to deteriorate in comparison with the rest of the world. Their innovation and technology would fall backwards and the great minds of their land would stagnate.

The Indra understood that, even if it came to fruition, it wouldn't be a true trade coalition these four major kingdoms are proposing. The dryland kingdoms have a deep history of love and hate with each other, as such trade cannot be regulated in an objective manner. Except Abhaya which, because of its location in the mountains was mostly neutral throughout history, the remaining five major kingdoms in the drylands had varying attitudes towards each other. One day they would be at each other's throats in war, another day, they would be sending their princesses to other states in marriage. Take Dhija for example. When Hangi was at war with Rtadhra over a water dispute, the Indra personally rallied his soldiers to war. At that time, its bosom ally Dhija sent its famously ruthless assassins to Rtadhara royal palace to assassinate his young heir Vajradhaara in order to make Indra back away from personally taking part. Then half a decade later, it was the same kingdom that was sending its eldest princess to Rtadhara to be the Indra's second queen. However, this short-lived alliance once again turned into a deep enmity when presently, Dhija assassinated the crown prince. Honestly, the other major kingdoms also shared the same kind of complicated relationships with each other. Under such circumstances, any major undertaking such as a trade coalition is but a sham. It was just a ruse to join hands and snatch Abhaya's territory.

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Vajradandaka demonstrated all this by playing his chess pieces to perfection, blocking and leading his brother's moves at the same time. By sending the second queen, making a marriage alliance with Dhija, the coalition made Rtadhara passive to some extent, unable to intervene when the other four nations were suppressing Abhaya. However, when Abhaya directly requested a marriage alliance with Rtadhara, they attacked from the inside, supporting the grand prince in his schemes instead. Once again, Rtadhara was forced to play defence. Meanwhile, the reason it wanted to support Abhaya was because the autonomy of the state was exceedingly important to the dryland nations. Abhaya was a mountain kingdom that stood at the mouth of the dryland nations. It controlled all trade coming in from the outside, therefore it was vastly rich, making the four nations covet it so. But, it was also a highly militaristic nation, which converted the mountain passes into strong fortresses, defending the dryland kingdoms from outside invasion! Abhaya literally means to have no fear. The neutral and solemn nation was a silent guardian for the drylands which stood for a thousand years. The Indra considered it a sacrilege that the four major nations were coveting it with such greed. They naturally planned to take over the country and divide up the trade passes among each other, but doing so would simply mean that eventually one of them would sell themselves off to an outsider, inviting foreign armies into the drylands! The Indra did not want to see that happen. He considered the other four nations basically ignorant. They were playing with fire and they didn't even know it. His uncle Shwetasura had roamed the world and he had informed him long ago that out there, there are armies that could raze the dryland nations to the ground within just three years! And that was thousands of years of history put together. How could Rtadhara just sit calmly by when greed ruins the lands thus? It is after the flowing kingdom of Rta, the law that is universal and true.

But no matter what Vajradhaara did, he couldn't change the course of events that Vajradankda projected on the chess board. Even when he coordinated his actions with the Abhaya side of the board, supporting its pieces even at the cost of his own, he couldn't stop the other two players from infringing on its territory and attacking it on all sides. At the end, when he was about to lose in his objective, his little brother said to him, "Look big brother, no matter what you do, you cannot stop Abhaya from being swallowed by the coalition. Though it is noble and maybe even divine, it bled greatly and will die soon. It's fated to, there's nothing you can do…" Biting his lip, he said softly, "Don't send big sister to that place, ok?"