Peace. A word many thought they would only hear. A word that even more people thought they would never understand. After one hundred years, generations had been born and died without ever knowing such serenity. And yet, a group of people as courageous as they were young had brought the Fire Nation's tyranny to an end. For the first time in so many individuals' lives, they could actually know what it felt like to not have fear. If the world had been told that they were going to be saved by this group, no one would have believed the claim. The sole survivor of the Air Nomad genocide, the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe, a blind earthbender, two nonbenders, and the prince of the oppressing nation. No one expected that. No one expected the newly crowned firelord to stand with the Avatar during his coronation, or for there to be no animosity between them. No one expected to be given permission to finally be happy because they were safe.

A week had passed since the coronation, and Team Avatar had not stopped working once. They seemed to have endless amounts of work to do, but they understood why. People required time to adjust to the extreme changes. One of these changes required the group of heroes to travel to the Earth Kingdom. Peace could only be maintained if issues were stopped as they presented themselves. Still, this did not mean that the friends were particularly excited about their trip. Toph gripped the sky bison's saddle, frowning.

"I don't get why we have to go back to Ba Sing Se," she mentioned.

"King Kuei needs our help," Aang informed her.

"He always seems to need something," his friend said, crossing her arms. "Can't he do anything for himself just once? We ended the war! How's he going to ask us to do more than that?"

Sokka puffed up proudly. "It's just part of the job description for being world-renowned heroes, Toph. Better get used to it. I know I am."

Katara shook her head at him. "He's not joking. He's been teaching the kids back home how to invent. They're calling him Sifu Sokka now."

"And I'm loving it!"

Toph was not convinced and made a face. "Even if Ba Sing Se doesn't have the Dai Li anymore, it'll be nothing but bad memories."

Suki scooted over to Sokka and gave him a smile. "Well, I can't say that I only associate it with bad things. I got to reconnect with you guys when you were headed there."

Grinning widely, the Water Tribe boy hugged her. Momo joined in on the love fest, wrapping his wings around the couple. Aang chuckled at them and began petting Appa's head.

"Besides, Toph, we don't know how many more times we'll all get to go on adventures like this."

"That's true," Zuko added. "This might be my last one for a while. Uncle's managing everything while I'm gone, but it's not fair to pull him away from the Jasmine Dragon to take care of a nation for me."

"Exactly," Aang said, gesturing to the new ruler. He paused as he began to frown slightly. "But I'll admit that I do feel like something's wrong. I don't think it's Ba Sing Se, but something just feels…different today. It's weird."

"Weird like a freaky spirit bear is going to run off with me again, or weird like you accidentally ate some of Katara's stewed sea prunes?" Sokka inquired, getting a gentle shove from his sister. "It is about to be the winter solstice, so the first one's a possibility."

"Neither really. It's just weird. More of the first one maybe."

The group got quiet as they tried to consider what this meant. Breaking the silence, Toph punched one hand into her palm.

"Well, whatever weird thing is out there, it doesn't know what it's up against."

This returned the mood of the team to a positive one, and they were again confident in how the trip would go. They landed before long, and were graciously welcomed by servants. Upon seeing them, the Earth King got up from his throne and hurried over to them.

"I'm so glad that you all could make it!"

"I am too," Aang answered honestly. "Your message was vague, though. What did you need help with?"

The man gestured for the team to come in further and make themselves comfortable. When they did, he elaborated.

"While I was out exploring the world–or hiding, as some would probably say–I realized that there are more Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom than I ever could have imagined." A determined look appeared on his face. "I respect the changes being made in the Fire Nation, Firelord Zuko, but I'd like to have the colonies go back to the way they were before the war. I haven't received any reports of people being hurt since your coronation, but tensions are extremely high."

The firebender nodded understandingly. "I wanted to dismantle those soon also. I'm fine with taking care of that now."

"Great! I was thinking it would be called the Harmony Restoration Movement."

"I like that," Aang commented, smiling.

Sokka, on the other hand, was not. "That's nice, but why'd you need all of us here?"

Kuei began looking sheepish as he smiled nervously. "Well, I was hoping that you could vouch for what we're doing. I doubt that the Fire Nation citizens living there will be thrilled with the idea of leaving, but if you all agree that it's a good idea, they might be less likely to try to kill the two of us in retaliation. I've been lucky enough to avoid assassination attempts from my own subjects, but I've heard how the Fire Nation has some really skilled ones."

Thinking back to Combustion Man, Sokka shrugged. "Okay, fair enough. I'd be pretty disappointed if you two got killed."

"Touching words as always," Zuko said, chuckling to himself.

"I'm a true poet. Ask the haiku girls."

Suki gave him a look, making him quickly explain what he had said. While he did so, Kuei had some servants bring over the scroll. Zuko read the document, then gave it his official seal. The members of the team did the same to confirm that they had been present and agreed to the changes. A section was added, saying that they were there with the young Beifong so that she would not have to sign it herself. After this was completed, Kuei offered them rooms for the night, which they declined. If there was nothing more to do, they preferred to go back home.

"We'll be back sooner than I thought," Sokka admitted, brightening. "I'll get to teach my pupils how to make war balloons tomorrow!"

He happily got back onto Appa's saddle, awaiting the flight. After a moment, he was joined by the others.

"Yip yip," Aang called, getting Appa to fly. "We can head over the Swamp on the way to the Southern Water Tribe. Hey, it'll almost be like our second time with you being there, Toph. That's where I had the vision that we'd meet."

"Weird."

"We all had interesting visions that day," Katara mentioned, becoming somber.

"Why fly over it then?" Suki asked.

"It's a unique place, but we should be fine, since we've already done what we were supposed to do there. It's also just faster than going around it," Aang divulged.

Agreeing with the plan, Team Avatar started heading in that direction. They flew for some time, all while Aang was thinking of that odd feeling he could not ignore.

"What if the new restoration plan doesn't work?" he wondered. "There's finally peace in the world. If we can't get the people in the colonies to agree, that might not last. Sometimes, it seems like people just want to fight."

The boy felt troubled by this thought. Katara noticed his demeanor and approached him. She moved to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but she could not. With a gasp, the waterbender moved back. Aang had vanished. She turned to alert the others, but one by one, they too disappeared. Katara felt panic rising in her chest, and could not focus on this as she stopped feeling Appa's saddle beneath her feet. Instead, she felt an invisible force take a hold of her. Katara could not fight against it, and was being pulled away until she was in the air. As soon as this happened, she was in water that came up to her shins. Katara looked around in concern and saw the rest of the Team. They all looked equally confused, but she was relieved that they were with her again.

"What just happened?" Sokka asked.

"I think we all vanished and reappeared," Suki said, looking at everyone to be sure no one was missing.

All but Toph turned to Aang with questioning expressions on their faces.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"You're the Avatar, Twinkle toes. You normally know all things spiritual."

"I don't know if we're in the Spirit World, though."

"One way to find out," Zuko mentioned.

He let his right palm face upwards as a flame was lit. The firelord made a fist again and frowned.

"Okay, we can bend, so it's not the Spirit World. We're back to not knowing where we are."

Everyone was quiet as they tried to come up with an answer, and Aang's breath started quickening. He looked around in a panic.

"Where are Appa and Momo?"

"They're either flying or not here," Toph informed him. "I don't sense them, but I do sense some land masses over that way. There are two of them. They're just not very big."

The bender began pointing ahead of them. Where she pointed was too far for the others to see, so she led the way. Toph disliked walking in water, since it made things "look" a little different, but something that was bothering everyone was the depth. It did not make sense. If Toph only sensed some land in one direction, it seemed unlikely that they were in a lake or pond. They knew they were not in a creek or marsh either. The water was far too blue and without algae anyway for it to have been the swamp, and they had not landed anyway. There did not seem to be many more options for where they were.

"Do you all think this could be an ocean?" Katara asked unsurely.

The waterbender had heard of oceans having some shallow areas, but this was peculiar, and Toph certainly would have sensed it if there were suddenly places where they could not step without having their heads underwater. Suki looked to be deep in thought.

"I'm not sure. I've been around the ocean almost my whole life, but I've never been in one that had so many shallow areas. We couldn't even swim in this. It was different on Kyoshi Island."

"Maybe there was an attack with waterbenders from the Northern Tribe and they flooded all the land," Zuko offered.

"Looking at it, that makes the most sense, but they'd have no reason to attack the Earth Kingdom if we're still here," Aang said, shaking his head.

"Let's see what we find once we're out of the water," Toph suggested. "We're almost there. You should see it soon."

The earthbender was correct. Shortly, two specs were visible to the other members of the team. They got bigger (however slightly) as they came further into view. When the friends approached, Toph stopped, eyebrows furrowing.

"What's wrong?" Sokka asked her.

She tilted her head. "It's weird. I don't sense any people there. It's like there are just a bunch of bugs running all over the place. They're loud, though."

"Loud with buzzing sounds?"

"No, but I can't tell what it is yet. We're too far away."

Suki shrugged. "If it's uninhabited and the biggest problem is noisy bugs, maybe we can regroup there until we figure out what happened."

They kept walking, but Katara caught Toph's arm to get her to stop.

"What's going on?"

"There's something in the water."

The others saw this too. It was difficult to make out, but it looked like spots and lines that got a bit larger as the friends neared them. By now, the team heard muffled sounds as well, which combined with the sight to create an entirely odd experience. Then, the sounds faded until there was only silence. Suddenly, they returned, now highly discernible. They were screams and shouts of panic. In horror, the Gaang realized what they were seeing. Sokka turned to his friends, a confused look on his face.

"You all see this too, right?"

"I don't," Toph chimed in.

He squinted at her and the others nodded in shock.

"They're…people."

Miniscule war vessels were floating in the water between the lands. Some looked damaged, but their attention was quickly turned to the team. Seeing the people aboard the ships, the heroes saw that they were roughly four inches tall. As Sokka was about to make another comment, he swatted at his arm. It felt like something had just stung him. When he lifted his arm, he saw a tiny arrow sticking out of his elbow.

"Ow! Why are they attacking me?" he asked, offended. "I didn't do anything."

"We look like giants," Katara realized, eyes wide. "They're terrified of us."

A barrage of more arrows was launched into the sky, then Aang got in front of his friends, blowing away the attack. It caused a large wave, making him regret his hastiness. Before it could crash into the ships, Katara bent the water and made it still. Aang gave her a grateful look and cautiously stepped forward. Another attack did not come. The people were in too much of a state of shock over their near death experience and what they were still seeing.

"We come in peace," the airbender said, arms up and palms facing the vessels. "We don't know where we are or how we got here, but we aren't your enemies, so please don't attack."

A tense silence occurred and Sokka leaned in Suki's direction. "Do you think they got any of that?"

"Who knows? They might not even speak our language."

"We speak your language!" someone shouted. "We just don't believe you!"

"You want to kill us!" another voice added. "Monsters!"

Annoyed, Toph went forward, using the sounds of the voices to alert her to the locations of the people.

"We're giant in comparison to you…probably. Even if we were here to attack you, this isn't a fight you want, so maybe you shouldn't start it."

This got the people's attention and they looked concerned. Huddling together, they began whispering to one another. They said nothing else to the giants as they pulled the ships back into their own harbors. Sokka watched and then looked back at the others.

"Okay, so that's settled now, I guess. What next?"

Aang had a frown on his face as he observed the groups leaving. "I'm going to try to enter the Spirit World and see what I can find out. I'll be back."

Using his foot, the youth brought the earth from under him up until it created a tall pillar. He was lifted high into the sky, away from all the sounds of confusion he heard from his friends and the strangers. When they were no longer distractions, he sat down and placed the backs of his hands on his knees. Aang focused on his breathing and let his spirit leave his body and enter the nonphysical world. It felt different than the previous times he had gone. There was a new presence.

"I'm the Avatar," Aang said, hoping to bring the spirit forward to speak. "My friends and I are in a land with people almost as small as insects. If you can help us, I was hoping you'd tell me how we got here and how we can get back."

He paused, waiting for a response. None came, and the airbender could feel himself becoming more anxious.

"Please," he requested. "We have to get back home. The world is relying on us. There was a war that just ended. If we're stuck here, I don't know what'll happen to everyone. We just want people to be able to live in peace."

Nothing again. Aang was about to return to his body when he suddenly noticed a bright light behind him. Turning, he saw an enormous spirit. It was so bright that it nearly hurt his eyes to behold. Just barely, he could tell that the form was lavender and sky blue, had four arms, and one eye in the center of its forehead.

"I am Zan Fa," it announced in a voice both feminine and masculine. "I am the reason you are here, Avatar."

Aang shielded his eyes as he answered. "Why? We lost our friends and were attacked as soon as the people saw us."

"Your animal friends are safe. They are in your world."

"Our world? Where are we then?"

"You are in a land that needs your ability to bring peace."

"I don't mind helping, but we have to make sure there's peace where we're from too."

"You will not be leaving until this is complete."

Aang's heart stopped for a moment. "We're being kept as prisoners?"

"You are not prisoners unless you decide to be."

"But…one of my friends is the new ruler of his nation. If he's gone, it could fall into chaos."

"Days pass slower in your world than they do here. There, you have not been gone for a minute."

Aang felt overwhelmed with this information, and Zan Fa could tell. Speaking again, the spirit's voice became slightly warmer.

"The Avatar is meant to help all people who are in need. You and your allies did well in your world. It will remain safe in your absence. Here, people will kill each other until these lands are barren. I trust no one to complete this job more than the team who ended a hundred year war."

"Can you at least tell us what the people are fighting over?"

"No, I have told you all that I can. Everything else, you must learn for yourself." Zan Fa paused, then spoke again in a grave voice. "For their sake and yours, I wish you nothing but the best."