After the team was finished preparing for the day, Aang created another pillar of earth to raise him into the sky. Away from the other sounds, he closed his eyes and focused. He began to enter the Spirit World again, but the spirits he sought were different this time. With a hopeful expression, Aang saw himself in a previous life.

"Avatar Roku," he greeted, "do you know where my friends and I are?"

The spirit's expression was perplexed. "I do not, Aang. I have never traveled into this world before."

Disappointed, the boy tried another question. "Do you have suggestions for how we can help? Both of the fighting groups told us that the other one is abducting people. We arrived in the middle of everything, so we can't tell who needs us more."

"Can you not help everyone?"

"We can. Ultimately, that's what we want to do, but if one group or person started it, we'll have to find a way to stop them like we did with the Fire Lord."

"Have you considered both groups being in the wrong?"

Aang tilted his head in confusion. "Both? How would that work?"

"I'm not entirely sure," the past Avatar admitted. "I wish that I could give you more advice on the matter. Avatar Kyoshi would be able to offer better input with managing conflicts."

"Is she just going to tell me to kill the leaders?"

Roku chuckled. "I can't be sure, but I think you should still ask. She might surprise you."

"Okay, I'll see what she says. Thanks for trying to help."

The firebender faded away, beginning to transform into the earthbending Avatar. Aang explained the same situation to her as he did with Roku. He was prepared to cringe at the suggestion of murder, but the pause that followed his words surprised him.

"I believe your first goal should be stopping their attacks. If you can get both sides to have a truce, it would let you have more time to investigate the cause of the war. Otherwise, you'll be distracted by trying to save lives on both sides. You'll never help the groups find peace if they can't stop killing each other."

"I'll be honest, I thought you'd be more aggressive like you were with Chin the Conqueror."

"With Chin, he was one person who caused the problem. In your situation, such a direct plan wouldn't be beneficial. Still, I can see some elements of Chin in these people. He wouldn't stop trying to expand his empire, and they won't stop trying to get their people back no matter the costs. Even the appearance of 'giants' will do little to delay their plans for long."

Aang nodded his head. "Good point. It sounded like the two groups wanted our help with attacking the other side. If we can make it so that it's not an option anymore, maybe we can focus on the root of the problem. We just need to figure out how to get them to stop."

"That might be when more force is needed. It would not be surprising if they were already planning an attack."

The younger Avatar's brows furrowed slightly. Seeing this, the earthbender regarded him curiously.

"But this isn't the only thing that's troubling you. What else happened besides being trapped here?"

"There is something else," Aang admitted, "but I think I need to talk about it with Avatar Yangchen. It's nothing against you, though. It's just..."

Kyoshi had an understanding look in her eyes. "Best understood by another Air Nomad."

Aang gave a sad nod of his head to confirm she was correct. Closing her eyes, Kyoshi began to fade into the airbending Avatar. Upon seeing the caller, Avatar Yangchen could tell that he was troubled.

"You are experiencing a mixture of grief and nostalgia," she noted.

"I am," the boy said unhappily. "There are airbenders here. It's going to be so weird to see them again. Part of me is excited because it'll be like old times, but another part of me is upset because when we go back, it'll just be like losing everyone all over again."

"Then, think further into the future."

"What do you mean?"

"The things you see here, they are merely what is to come. One day, the four nations will be balanced again. Airbenders will walk the earth and soar in the skies as they did in your childhood. Those you see here will prepare you and your friends for what a world can be like when benders of all kinds come together as one. Even though these two lands are against each other, they are not separated by element."

Aang was quiet as he contemplated what he heard. "I wouldn't have thought about it like that, but you're right. This doesn't need to be a sad thing to see at all. It's actually pretty hopeful." He bowed his head gratefully. "Thank you, Avatar Yangchen. I really needed to hear that."

The other airbender bowed her head in response. "Then, I wish you well, young Avatar. Return to our world soon."

While Aang was speaking with his past lives, the rest of Team Avatar was thinking over ideas.

"We could speak with the assistant and that other president person that Megat mentioned," Katara suggested.

"Maybe we should split up," Zuko added. "If some of us speak with them while the others meet the prince and the rest of his family, we could come back here and relay what we've learned."

"That works for me," Toph said, shrugging.

"Katara, Toph, and I could speak with the people from Rhijaj," Suki offered. "That way, each island has three people who can collect the information they have to tell us."

"Then, it's settled," Sokka said happily. "Once Aang is done Spirit Worlding, we'll be ready."

Toph began to frown, and her friends looked at her curiously.

"What's wrong?" Katara asked her.

"I'd been noticing a lot of little vibrations on Rhijaj. It was like a bunch of people were marching."

"It 'was' like that?" Sokka inquired, glancing towards the island.

Once he did, his eyes widened. The others turned to the land mass and could feel their bodies tense up.

"You stopped feeling them marching because they're back on the ships, Toph," Katara said, taking her hand so that she would know when to stop walking before she stepped onto one of the small people's vessels. "They're trying to attack Xei!"

The Team hurried over to the group. Ships carried waterbenders who were using the ocean to create a large wave. Just before it crashed onto the shores of Xei, Katara took control of the water, making it stand high above the land. As she had it safely lower, Zuko stopped an onslaught of fire blasts which threatened to set the grass aflame. The soldiers angrily looked up at him and Katara, but they did not stop. Suki heard the sound of more blasts.

"They have another fleet coming up on the side too!"

Sokka and Suki followed the sound of carnage and saw that several earthbenders had begun causing quakes in the land. Chunks of earth broke up and split off into the water.

"Toph!" Suki called. "We're going to need some help over here with keeping this island together!"

Before Toph could start going that way, soldiers from Xei began joining the battle. Their earthbenders worked to reconnect the land as their airbenders propelled themselves into the sky and onto the vessels to stop the attackers. Sokka let Toph know when she was close enough to the island, and she finished the job of keeping it from breaking into pieces. Realizing that the giants were an issue, the Rhijaj warriors fired blasts at them. A group firebent at their heads, only getting stopped as Suki brought out her fans and extinguished the flames. On the other side of the island, Katara and Zuko were standing their ground against an army of airbenders who kept trying to force them back. Irritated, the Fire Lord noticed how the wind was directed at their heads and chests. Using his feet, he was able to kick a controlled flame that sent the soldiers flying without it burning them. Still, it did not stop the fighters. Even those from Xei did not want the giants to interfere. If it was a fight Rhijaj wanted, it was one it would get. From both islands, firebenders and waterbenders combined their efforts, drawing up water from the ocean so that fire could turn it into steam.

"Great," Sokka complained, swatting the air with his boomerang. "Now we can't see anything."

"Boo hoo," Toph said. "Whatever will you do."

Sokka chuckled sheepishly as the earthbender stomped the ground. She had a determined expression on her face.

"Well, I'm sick of not knowing where everyone is too. If they want to stay hidden on the water, I'll just move it out of the way."

At her command, the earth rose up, stopping the ships which could no longer travel forward. The people lurched forward due to the sudden halt.

"We tried to warn you that you didn't want a fight with us," Toph reminded them, arms crossed. "You're lucky that we're the good guys."

The soldiers had to adjust to the change, but they quickly jumped off the ships and onto the land so that the fighting could continue. Sokka's jaw dropped as he heard the sounds of more battling.

"They're impossible! They have giants in the middle of their battlefield, and they still keep going like it's a normal morning!"

"I say we just let them settle it," Toph said, huffing. "They tried to attack us for the second time since we've been here…and we've only been here two days! Whoever's left, we teach negotiation skills to or something."

"No," Zuko said, shaking his head and still stopping tiny flames from spreading. "We have to go back home. We won't be allowed to until they get along. There's got to be a way to fix this. Some people thought it was impossible to stop our war, but we still did it."

"Exactly!" Katara agreed as she froze several Xei soldiers to the ground and Rhijaj warriors to some trees. "We can do it, but first we need them to stop fighting now and listen to reason."

Katara had to admit to herself that it did seem unlikely that they would be able to convince the groups to act civilly. As she glanced upwards, a hopeful smile spread over her face. Aang was returning to the ground and used his staff to blow away the steam. With one stronger blast of air, he silenced the sounds of battle as people from both islands clung to the grass to not fly off and into the ocean. Before they could be in severe danger, Aang stopped, hitting the bottom of the staff on the ground just as the wind ceased to blow. The fighters fell to the ground with little thuds. They wanted to rise up and battle again, but the stern look on the airbender's face–the look that was shared by his friends–persuaded them to reconsider this plan.

"We are here to help you end this war," Aang said. "You don't want us to be here forever and we don't want that either. So, it will help all of us if we can get you to stop killing each other. We don't know who started the fight or why. We'll try to figure that out, but right now, we need you to agree to stop fighting. We won't let you continue to kill anyone. As you hopefully just saw, it would be a waste of your time to try. So, instead of starting to fight and making us have to stop you, we can all spend our time working on finding your missing family and friends. If you care as much about them as you claim to, you won't mind not fighting if it means they'll be brought back home."

Everyone was silent for a few moments. They were still angry, but what the giant had said did make sense.

"Who initiated this battle?" Zuko asked.

Hesitantly, the prince of Rhijaj stepped forward. "I did. I'm Prince Buraid of Rhijaj and I'd start a thousand battles if it brought back everyone we've lost."

"Will you also be willing to stand down so that your people will be safe as we continue the search?"

Buraid frowned, then he turned to look at his warriors. They had uncertain expressions on their faces. They did not know these giants or what their motives truly were. It was possible that they were lying and could return to their world whenever they wanted. If so, he was not sure why they would come all that way just to lie about helping. He had doubts about many things, but one thing he was sure of was that his people would be in more danger if he upset the giants.

"I will stand down…for now."

Zuko turned to try to spot the Xei leader. "Will President Megat also stand down?"

The president had heard the events from outside and was present for the firebender's question.

"I will," Megat said. "But only if they keep true to their word, which they are probably incapable of doing."

"I'll show you what we're capable of!"

"I'd like to see you try, captor!"

"You've got a lot of nerve–"

Another blast of wind made them stop arguing.

"Both sides will have a ceasefire," Aang stated firmly. "We're not expecting you to immediately have peace with one another, so just give us the opportunity to prove that it can happen."

Buraid grumbled under his breath, but Megat managed to keep his scowl only on the inside.

"Fine," they both said.

With parting glares, the warriors returned to their ships. The prince frowned again when he got there.

"Can we have the water again?" he requested, annoyed.

Toph roughly lowered the earth again so that it was level with the ocean. Once it was possible, the ships traveled back to their homeland. Megat's eyes narrowed as he watched them. He then left to return to his office building. The door slammed loudly behind him. He was soon joined by his assistant. She had a scowl on her face.

"The giants were supposed to be on our side," she said.

"I'm well aware of that, Sabit," he said, hand raising to the bridge of his nose. "At this point, I'm just glad they aren't on the side of Rhijaj."

"They're on no one's side, which means they're unknown variables in this."

Megat sighed heavily and sat down at his desk. "Maybe this ceasefire will be good for us."

"What would have been good was to have had them as allies." Sabit walked to the door, then stopped, frowning back at him. "The foolish truce won't make a difference because we still know what Rhijaj has done. Today just further proved what lengths they'll go. If you can genuinely stomach letting them get away with that, that's one thing. If not, maybe you should consider what's worth fighting for because you clearly don't think our people are a worthy enough cause."