During the evening, Inaya saw that she had been correct about finishing the cleaning duties earlier than normal. It had just become dusk when the servant started walking through the halls again. On her way, she noticed the princess smiling at her.

"Hi, Inaya, you're done early. That's pretty impressive."

The servant smiled back. "Thank you, Princess."

Durnaz paused for a moment, considering where the cleaner was headed. "Are you leaving?"

"I am…if that's all right," she added.

"Of course it is! Honestly, I'm happy to see you get out of here and meet some new people."

"Thank you," Inaya said, bowing her head. "I will not be gone for too long."

The servant bid farewell to Durnaz and began exiting the palace. Inaya paused when she was outside, holding her breath to see if this would help calm her down. It worked well enough, and she continued walking until she heard people's voices. Her instinct was to go in the opposite direction. Clearly, the group was large, but if Inaya wanted to be useful, she would have to use this chance. The girl followed the sounds, reaching a tavern. Entering, Inaya saw people at bars and tables. Her presence was quickly noticed by an older man who came from behind a counter.

"I don't believe I've had you as a customer before," he greeted. "Welcome. Is it just you tonight?"

Inaya nodded timidly and he gestured towards the counter.

"Then, come along. No one dines alone here if I can help it. There's a group of friends who are regulars here. I'm sure you'll find something great to talk about."

The servant was ushered towards the people, hearing her heartbeat pounding in her ears. When Inaya saw their bright smiles, she tried to return the same expression, but she looked as nervous as she felt.

"There's no reason to be anxious," one of the members said. "I'm Noor."

"I-I'm Inaya."

The girl sat with the friends, and they quickly resumed their conversation with the newly added participant.

"I'm just saying that no battling means no searching either," one of the individuals stated.

"It'll also save some lives on our side," Noor countered.

A series of disagreements back and forth ensued until Inaya forced herself to say something.

"I think the giants are trying to help," she said quietly.

The servant was hardly heard, but Noor saw her mouth moving.

"What did you say?"

"I…I think they want us to be okay. Th-the giants, I mean."

One of the people scoffed. "The giants? Doubtful."

"They're probably just planning to eat us after they gain our trust."

"I saw the one with the blue tattoos in Xei, no doubt talking with the president. They're all against us."

"One of them, Katara, is teaching me how to waterbend properly," Inaya said. "She and her friends seem pretty nice. I don't think they want to hurt anybody. They're trying to find our missing people too."

"How are they going to do that?"

"They want to ask around and see if anyone's seen something strange," the servant answered.

The friends looked at one another, shaking their heads. Suddenly, a light lit in Noor's eyes.

"I remember the last time I saw my cousin. She told me that she was going fishing. After that, she was gone."

"Yeah! The same thing happened to my uncle," another one of the group added.

"I turned down an offer to go sailing with some friends one night and they all went missing the next morning."

Curiously, Inaya listened to experiences the others had regarding their last times seeing missing friends and family. She stayed out there later into the evening, then returned to the palace. The next day, Katara went with Toph and Suki to Rhijaj while the boys stayed behind at the base. They were about to head to Xei when Aang spotted Tipah coming their way. He waved to the friends.

"Hi, Tipah," the Avatar greeted.

"Hello," the vice president returned. His smile became slightly unsure. "Megat told me what you said about your war and deadlines. Were you…able to resolve things peacefully?"

"We actually were," Aang said, grinning.

"Since our enemy wanted to burn down the world and take over whoever didn't die, Aang here was the only one who wanted to be merciful. The rest of us were all practically telling him to just kill the guy," Sokka informed the waterbender.

Zuko nodded. "Our enemy was even my own father, but Aang was the one who found a way to spare him."

Tipah looked surprised by this information. "Didn't you ever feel pressure to go along with the kill plan? Sometimes, it seems like that's the only option even if you don't want it to be."

"Absolutely," Aang admitted. "I think it was when we played out the scenario with melons and I still couldn't do it, but my friends could, that I realized I needed to figure it out for myself."

Sokka brought out his machete and sliced the air. "The Melon Lord didn't stand a chance against me, but I think Aang made the right call by not ending a hundred years of bloodshed with more killing."

Tipah looked pensive. "How did you learn the way to save your enemy's life and the people you wanted to protect?"

"I spoke with an ancient being and had my eyes opened to a new option. Instead of killing our enemy, I could just make it so that he wasn't a danger anymore by taking away his bending."

Tipah became disheartened with this news. "I'm not sure if removing someone's bending would be very helpful for us."

"It might not be," Zuko admitted, "but it never hurts to consider more options that people might be missing. The rest of us saw the simplest plan to stop my father, but Aang found a way to stop him without killing him."

Tipah nodded slowly. "I've been thinking about other possibilities a lot. To put it plainly, what's happened here doesn't make sense. I feel like there's something that no one's seeing because we're all too busy pointing fingers at each other."

"I couldn't agree more," Aang stated. "What have you been thinking of so far?"

"Well, I've spoken with as many citizens as possible so that I could compile first-hand accounts of what they've seen. No one ever catches someone doing anything suspicious. We've stationed soldiers on every coast to keep watch just in case someone from Rhijaj tries to get in." The man shrugged. "They never see anything. Whenever I ask around, it's the same type of story. Either the person doesn't remember the last time they saw someone, or they hear that they were headed out for a little while."

"Do they ever know where the people were going?" Sokka asked.

"The most descriptive answer I get is that they were about to go fishing."

The friends cringed and turned to one another.

"That really doesn't make Rhijaj look any less guilty," Aang realized. "People could think they went out into the ocean and just got taken captive by the navy."

"Which is precisely the issue I've run into," Tipah divulged, sighing. "The only other thing I can think of is that we have a sea monster. It probably sounds ridiculous, but if Rhijaj didn't do it and our people didn't evacuate, maybe a monster stole them and pulled them into the sea."

"Actually, that doesn't sound as weird as you'd think," Aang assured him, chuckling. "We've run into a few giant sea creatures on our adventures that could definitely take down ships of people."

Tipah turned ashen. "There are sea creatures that you would consider giant?"

"Oh yeah," Sokka said. "My girlfriend is from an island with one…and then she was there to save another one of our friends when a different monster almost made her drown." He paused for a moment. "You know, if there's a sea monster here too, Suki might just have a habit of always being around one."

"I guess you both have bad luck sometimes then," Aang mentioned.

"Maybe. But," Sokka said, beaming, "this would work with my latest idea of people being out on the ocean still. Granted, it's a little more grim than what I was suggesting, but the general point is there. Toph can't sense the people because they're either on the water or in a monster's stomach."

The friends and Tipah looked at him in mild horror. Sokka just shrugged at them.

"I did say Tipah's idea was more grim, but we shouldn't rule anything out. I bet that if there's a sea monster, the water can just be bent out of the way to check."

"Yeah, Katara and I could do that," Aang offered. "I'll mention it to her when we see her later today." He turned his attention to the smaller bender. "Do you think you could get any new information out of the citizens?"

"I can try." An idea caused Tipah's eyes to brighten. "Actually, what if I bring a few of them here for you tomorrow? You could interrogate them yourselves. I know some people who have been pretty curious about you anyway."

"That would be great if you could."

"Consider it done." Tipah bowed politely. "I have to get back before they get worried. It seems like everyone is on edge now, but I'll be here tomorrow evening."

"We'll see you then."

The vice president returned to his home as Inaya spoke with the rest of Team Avatar. When she exited the castle, she had a determined look in her eyes. She smiled upon seeing Katara and the other two. They greeted one another before speaking of the previous evening.

"I was able to clean more areas like you said, Katara. I've never completed my duties so quickly. Then, I went to one of the taverns. It went well," the servant said, a small smile on her lips. "I was able to find out that some people remembered hearing that their loved ones were going to be on the water before they could not find them. I'm not sure if that can help."

"I think so," Katara told her. "At least now, we sort of have a general idea of where the abductions might have happened. Did a lot of people say this?"

Inaya nodded. "It started out with one subject named Noor, then a few of the others in the tavern began saying the same. Others could not remember where their lost ones had been or what the last thing they said was."

Toph had a pleased smile on her face. "Not bad. I didn't expect you to do it."

The little waterbender's expression became sad and Katara frowned at her friend.

"That sounded more harsh than she meant it."

"That's pretty much how I meant it, but I'm glad you proved me wrong and that's not something you'll hear me say often."

This made Inaya's smile return. "I'm glad too then." A slight frown came over her face. "After listening to them, I realized how odd everything sounded."

"Did you hear anything suspicious?" Suki asked.

"Nothing was particularly suspicious, but no one seemed to have an answer for anything. As angry as everyone is with Xei…I guess we really don't have proof that they went after us."

"We were feeling the same way," Katara revealed. "It doesn't seem like either of your islands abducted anyone."

"I don't think that hap…"

Inaya trailed off as she noticed that the group was being approached. Buraid had left the palace and waved at them. When he saw Inaya, he lifted an eyebrow and walked over to the people. The servant bowed deeply.

"What are you doing here, Inaya? Don't you have work?"

"I-I do, but Katara has been training me."

Buraid glanced up at the larger waterbender. "What are you training her to do?"

"I'm showing her how to do more with waterbending."

The prince squinted, a frown ready to appear. "Why? She's not one of our warriors."

"Well," Toph said, huffing, "sure hope there's never a battle that might put some of the subjects in danger…Oh wait."

Buraid's scowl finally came to his face. "When there are battles, our warriors deal with them. We don't worry the other subjects with matters like this."

"I'm n-not worried," Inaya insisted.

"You don't even realize what's happening," the prince told her, turning his head so that he could redirect his harsh expression.

Inaya's head lowered and Suki began to glare at him.

"Calm down," she said, voice tense. "It's not like Katara's telling her to go running to the front lines. Learning how to bend better actually helped her clean faster last night. So, if you're so scared that she won't be able to do her work well, you can stop. She's doing it even better now."

Buraid did not feel like he was in any better of a mood. "Heard that you went to a tavern last night, Inaya."

"How–"

"I've been talking with shop owners to keep them from planning a revolt against us or something because we haven't opposed the truce." The young man's eyes narrowed. "Since when do you go to taverns?"

Inaya hesitated and Katara spoke up.

"I asked her if she'd get out of the palace. Everyone needs fresh air and a change of scenery from time to time."

Buraid did not change his focus, continuing to stare down the servant. "Funny because the tavern owner said that you and a group of other subjects were talking about where they'd last seen their lost ones."

"I-is that prohibited, Your Majesty?"

"It should be," the firebender said, frustrated. "We're trying to get people to accept that we're not actively participating in a war right now and you start up a conversation about the very reason we have this war? Why don't you just lead the angry mob to the palace entrance?!"

Inaya shrunk at the prince's rage. The friends felt their own anger rising. Toph could no longer contain hers and squeezed her hand into a fist, creating a small crater in the earth beneath Buraid. He yelped as he fell, stopping himself from falling further by blasting fire with his feet.

"You could've killed me!"

"Relax, Princey," the earthbender said dismissively. "It wasn't deep enough to kill you if you hit the bottom. You just would've had a backside as bruised as your ego."

Buraid felt too angry to appropriately respond. Since he could not, Katara did.

"Inaya isn't trying to ruin peace in Rhijaj. If anything, she might have just helped us get a clue to solving this mystery. This war that you want hasn't gotten you anywhere. If she's trying out a new plan, you should be happy and open to it because it can't be any worse than yours. All you've been doing is losing more people in battles."

The prince's face burned in embarrassment. He furiously left the group, heading to begin his training for the day. Katara heard chuckling and noticed the sources were her friends.

"What?"

"Nothing," Suki assured her. "It's just always interesting to see when someone brings out your angry side."

"You should've seen her when I first joined the team," Toph said, chuckling more.

As the friends spoke, Inaya slowly lifted her head. "Thank you for saying that to him."

"We don't want to make things more difficult for you," Katara said. "We just want some answers."

"You're not the only one," a new voice added.

Turning, Inaya saw the princess. Durnaz smiled at the group and approached.

"I overheard you mentioning 'clues.' Are you really trying to find some?"

"We are," Suki said. "We've been trying to see if there's another explanation besides everyone being abducted."

Durnaz paused for a moment, then took a breath. "Good," she said, determined, "because according to his research, my dad was thinking the same thing."