When Team Avatar was done speaking with the people, they met up in between the islands.

"What's the verdict so far with the people from Rhijaj?" Aang asked.

Katara looked at Suki and Toph. "Durnaz seems the most open to the idea that we can do more than just fight. But without fighting Xei, the queen isn't sure if there's much else that'll still convince people that the royal family is working to fix the problem."

"And then there's the prince who wants to kill everybody," Toph said.

"Or at least as many as necessary to get his dad back," Suki offered. "There's a servant who you didn't meet. Her name's Inaya."

"What stance did she take?" Zuko asked.

"She didn't," Katara answered. "She just said that she didn't know or really had anything to offer. Inaya also said that she wanted to help if she could, so maybe she's someone we could count on."

Toph had a doubtful expression on her face. "I wouldn't want to rely on her. Way too timid for my liking. The girl needs spunk, but I don't see her getting any soon. What about you guys? Any luck on Xei?"

Aang shrugged. "'Luck' might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it could've gone worse. Sabit didn't want us to get involved. She didn't like that we weren't going to help them kill people."

"Sounds like she and Buraid should spend time together," Toph said sarcastically.

"Actually, you're not really wrong," Zuko added. "If their different sides in this war didn't make them mortal enemies, they'd probably see eye-to-eye about a lot of things."

"Tipah's more open-minded," Sokka mentioned. "He even feels bad for the people of Rhijaj."

Suki's eyes widened. "Really? We could definitely work with that."

"Yeah! He feels they're telling the truth and wants everyone to be happy." The Water Tribe boy smiled proudly. "And that can happen starting now, because yours truly came up with the brilliant idea of having our resident earthbending master find the missing people."

The friends turned to Toph, who appeared surprised for a moment, then her jaw dropped.

"I didn't think about that. Everything feels so weird that I guess I forgot."

"That's why I'm here!" Sokka happily proclaimed. "In addition to being the meat and sarcasm guy, I'm the ideas guy too."

"That is a really good idea," Suki complimented, earning a kiss on the cheek.

Toph nodded slowly. "Okay, I just need to try to sense where clusters of people are…of course, both islands have clusters of people."

"It'll be like when you found the screaming people with Hama," Aang offered.

"They were all normal-size. This is trickier."

"Can you do it?"

The girl feigned hurt. "I'm the best earthbender in the world. Of course, I can. Just…give me a few seconds and stay still. Better yet, Twinkle Toes, make everyone airborne. You're all heavy."

"Hey," Katara said, frowning.

"Heavier than the people we can pick up with one hand," Toph clarified. "I feel all of your vibrations more than theirs. So, if I'm going to notice more groups of people and tell them apart from the others, it'll be easier with you in the air."

Aang looked at his friends. "I can do that."

The Avatar bent the air under his friends, making them float on giant spheres of wind. It was a new sensation for them, and not one they particularly enjoyed. After a few minutes, Sokka called out to Toph.

"Anything?"

Toph frowned before sighing. "Come back to the ground."

Aang stopped the wind, letting his friends float back to the earth.

"I couldn't find them," the earthbender admitted, upset. "I don't know why. I should've been able to. I focused on Xei, Rhijaj–heck, I focused on the bottom of the ocean and still didn't feel anything different. It's all the same: little critters moving around. There aren't any groups of them just being still like you'd expect of captives."

A pause came as the team turned to one another.

"In that case," Katara said, "what does this mean? The people disappeared?"

"People can't disappear," Sokka stated. "It's impossible. They have to be around here somewhere."

"If they were, I would've felt them. They aren't here."

"This doesn't make sense," Aang said, sighing. "There's nowhere they could have gone. The only other option is if they went to a different island, but there's nothing else here."

"It's also unlikely that people from both sides would randomly leave and not tell anyone," Zuko said. "That would only make sense if they left as refugees after the war began. For them to disappear beforehand has to be tied to something else." He turned to Aang. "Are you sure that Zan Fa won't tell you anything else?"

"It seemed that way. My past lives didn't know much about this either, so I think we're on our own."

Suki shrugged. "Since none of us knows what's going on, maybe we could try to talk more with the others. It's getting late, but if we go back to Inaya, it's possible that she'd be able to offer us something."

"That's true," Zuko chimed in. "A servant would get a different perspective than a member of the royal family. She might even know something that they don't want anyone else to find out."

"The problem would just be getting her to tell us," Katara commented.

"I think a bit of persuasion could do the trick," Toph said with a smirk.

"Maybe Katara should go with you," the airbender suggested. "Inaya might need a gentler touch."

"I'm not going to drop a boulder on her head or anything."

Sokka nodded. "Didn't think you would, but we're giants. You could throw a pebble and probably kill her with that."

Toph conceded. "Okay, Katara can come along. You will too, though," she added, pointing at Aang, "since it was your idea to be all soft with her. If it takes forever, you'll suffer right along with us."

The Avatar agreed to join, then found some food for his friends. After a night of Sokka grumbling about the lack of meat, the Team went to get ready for bed. In the morning, Aang, Toph, and Katara returned to the palace. The guards started to go get the royal family.

"Actually," Katara said, stopping them before they got too far. "Could you just get Inaya? We wanted to talk to her."

Surprised but obedient, the guards went to retrieve the servant. The girl exited the palace with her head low like before, but she had curiosity in her eyes. Had she been less nervous, she would have asked why she had been requested personally. Toph pointed at her, causing the cleaner to flinch.

"You've got more you could tell us that you're not," she said.

"I-I really don't. Please, don't kill me."

Katara sighed at Toph. "Inaya, we're not here to attack anyone. We just realized that you might be able to learn things that the royal family wouldn't."

Aang nodded. "You can enter the kingdom easily and fit in with the others. Maybe Durnaz and her family haven't seen anything, but it's possible that you know somebody who's connected to what's going on."

Inaya just became quiet, eyes on the grass. "I stay in the castle most of the day," she finally admitted. "I don't know many people in the kingdom."

"That's okay," Katara said. "Would you mind getting to talk with them more? It could be really helpful. They might be less shy if they spoke with you instead of us or the royal family."

The small person struggled to answer. "I have many duties in the palace. If I do not fulfill them…"

"We're not asking you to neglect them," Aang told her. "If you have free time, that's what we're hoping you'd use."

"I could try, but it takes all day sometimes. It is faster when the areas I need to clean are waterproof."

"Why's that?"

"Because I can use my bending."

Katara's eyes lit up. "You're a waterbender?"

The cleaner nodded, causing a smile to appear on the other waterbender's face. "I'm not very good," Inaya divulged, "but I can do enough to finish my work."

"I'm a waterbender too. I could teach you some techniques so that you can have more leisure time."

"Good idea," Aang complimented. "Even when this war is over, it'll be nice to not have to spend so much time working. Everyone needs a break."

Toph crossed her arms. "Everyone except me apparently. You all still owe me a vacation trip of my choosing. This definitely doesn't count." The earthbender turned her attention to the small waterbender. "Which is all the more reason why you'll let Katara train you. We don't plan to spend our entire lives here, so she'll teach you, you'll get better and start gaining some helpful information, then we can be on the first bison out of this dimension."

Timidly, Inaya nodded her head. She was not sure if she would improve, but she decided that going along with the giants was a safer plan than arguing. While this happened, the others remained in their camp.

"What do we tell the people from Xei?" Suki asked. "They're expecting us to find someone now."

Sokka nodded sheepishly. "Maybe I was a little hasty in telling them about Toph. I wasn't trying to get their hopes up."

"None of us would've expected Toph to not be able to find them," Zuko assured him.

The other boy sighed. "And now I'm out of theories. I don't know where everyone could be." He paused to tap his chin. "Unless, they're out on the ocean."

"That's a possibility," Suki added. "It would explain why Toph couldn't find them. She couldn't tell where the ships were because they weren't touching the earth, so if they're all on board a ship, she wouldn't know."

"But why would they all be on a ship?" Zuko asked.

"They live off the sea. Both islands would have enough vessels to carry a lot of people," Sokka said, shrugging. "It's not great, I know, but it's something."

Zuko was going to offer another idea when a sound caught his attention. He heard blasts of fire, but there were no signs of another attack. Squinting, he saw Buraid angrily blasting some fireproof dummies. His friends followed his gaze to the prince.

"He just stays angry," Suki commented.

"Seems that way," Zuko said quietly. "I'm going to talk with him."

"Good luck," the pair wished him.

The Fire Lord left them to approach the prince. Buraid did not see him, being too absorbed in his training. With a furious roar, he shot the dummy off its holding place and sent it flying.

"Nice hit," Zuko complimented, startling the prince.

"Thanks," Buraid mumbled. He looked away from the dummy to the giant. "Are you here to eat me or something?"

Zuko lifted an eyebrow at him. "I prefer eating things that don't talk."

Buraid chuckled in spite of himself. "Inaya might be in trouble then. So, why are you here? Came to convince me to be full of hope and forgiveness with Xei? It won't happen."

"No, that's not why I wanted to talk. I saw you training and how angry you looked…well, look."

"Angry?" the prince snapped. "That doesn't even begin to describe what I am anymore. I was angry when I was first old enough to know what it meant for someone to be abducted. I stayed angry until it turned to a gnawing rage. When Dad was taken, it changed. I'm in a fury now. It doesn't help when you and the other giants materialize out of thin air and start ordering us around like you understand what our problems are."

Zuko just calmly listened. When he was sure Buraid was done speaking, he made his comment.

"I'm sorry about your father. We're trying to get him back too."

"How are you trying to get him back when you won't go after Xei? I don't need to figure out where he is. He's on that island."

"Actually, he might not be."

This caused the prince's eyes to widen. "What? How would that be possible?"

"Our friend checked and she can't sense any large groups of people besides those who regularly live on the islands."

Buraid blinked at him for a moment, then snarled. "They probably fed him to aquatic life to dispose of his body. Just because your friend couldn't find him doesn't mean that they didn't take him."

The young man could feel more of the fury building up in him and he blasted the dummy again. It was sent sliding across the floor and hit a tree with a thud.

"I get your anger," Zuko said.

"No, you don't. Have you ever been prince of a kingdom of people who keep getting taken from their families? Have you ever had to walk through the town and see people you're supposed to protect, knowing that you're failing them? And have you ever had someone you care about just be snatched away from you by monsters who deny every accusation? If you haven't, you don't understand what any of this is like."

There was a moment of quiet as the prince balled his hands into flaming fists.

"I actually understand a lot of that," Zuko divulged. "I was the same way for a while."

Buraid eyed him skeptically. "Things weren't nice in giant land?"

"Far from. I was a prince in a nation that was killing and laying siege to every other group of people we could find. We didn't even care about our own very much. People were getting sent to war as soon as they were learning to firebend properly. No one cared about them, just what they could do for the nation. Most of my family definitely didn't care about anyone besides themselves." The Fire Lord paused, frowning. "It felt like I couldn't escape it. I could either reject some of my family and go along with what my nation was doing, even though it felt wrong, or I could reject the other part of my family and be labeled a traitor instead of the crowned prince. For a while, I thought any option was a losing one."

Buraid's frown faded as fatigue appeared on his face. "How did you make one option not seem terrible?"

"I had to really think about the big picture. It was difficult sometimes. Once, my friends and I saw a performance where the entire audience was full of citizens from my nation. They cheered for my death as the actor played it out on stage. Even my own father and sister wanted me dead."

The prince looked horrified. "So, you realized that you'd made the wrong decision? You had to win everyone back."

"No, I realized that the world was better off if I didn't go along with plans to burn it down. More people might have hated me than those who didn't, but I was helping make a difference." Zuko smiled. "And I made some really great friends along the way who balanced that out."

After a moment, Buraid sighed. "So, you're telling me to not care if my nation hates me for not targeting Xei?"

"I'm not telling you to do that. Caring is normal. I never stopped. I'm just saying, overall, is making them happy right now by going after Xei what's best for Rhijaj?"

The prince put a hand over his face. "I wish I knew."

Seeing that he needed some time to think, Zuko left Buraid to rejoin his friends. While he did, the princess of Rhijaj was also busy. Durnaz was walking through the palace, smiling and greeting guards and servants. She had a calm expression on her face, resulting in no one doing anything besides returning her greeting. They did not think twice about where she was going. When the princess got to an area without anyone's eyes watching, she approached a wall. Quickly, Durnaz pressed against it with one hand, revealing it to be a hidden passageway. She slid into the opening and closed it behind her. It was pitch black, but she remembered where a torch was kept. Reaching up to the wall on her right, Durnaz unhooked a torch and lit a match. Using the new light, she walked down the narrow hallway until she reached a stone door. Durnaz entered and put the torch on a place on the wall so that it would provide her with light. With a sigh, she sat down at a large desk and began unraveling scrolls.

"All right, Dad, let's see if you have anything new for me today."