The River That Bordered Two Kingdoms

Betaal began once more, telling of two neighboring kingdoms locked in a decades-old dispute over a great river forming their shared natural border, each citing genuinely valid ancient treaties and historical precedent supporting exclusive rights to its water and fishing grounds — one treaty from generations earlier granting the eastern kingdom full rights, a later treaty, equally legitimate and properly witnessed, granting the western kingdom the same rights after a subsequent war's settlement had superseded the first.

Both kings brought their case before a respected outside judge, each presenting genuinely compelling historical documentation, leaving the judge with an unusual problem: not a case where one side was clearly right and the other wrong, but one where both sides held equally valid claims that simply could not both be fully honored at once without one kingdom losing something it had genuine legal grounds to keep.

"Tell me, Vikram," Betaal demanded, "how should such a dispute, where both claims are genuinely valid, actually be resolved?" Vikramaditya answered: "When a dispute cannot be settled by determining who is more right, since both sides genuinely are, the question must shift entirely from who deserves to win to what arrangement actually serves lasting peace between them — likely an equal shared use of the river's water and fishing rights going forward, regardless of which old document technically supports which side. Continuing to argue over ancient precedent when both are valid only guarantees continued conflict; a fair, practical arrangement both can actually live with matters more than a verdict that satisfies the letter of history but destroys the peace between neighbors." His answer given, the vow of silence broke once more, and Betaal flew, laughing, back toward his tree.