The spiraling finally stopped and the wind was calm again. Azula heard the sound of softly crashing waves. Her head hurt and she was not sure if she had hit it when being pulled through the portal. The princess's eyes were closed, but she felt something underneath herself. It was hard. Slowly, Azula began opening her eyes. She glanced down and was looking at herself. The statue was underneath her, helping to keep the princess afloat. It was the only thing she had been able to grab onto when she felt a wave crash into her. When the portal closed, the water around the firebender calmed down.

Looking around, Azula saw that the body of water seemed vast. She could not see land anywhere. Suddenly, the firebender realized something. She was floating on her statue. That should not have been possible. It should have been sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Azula made a fist and knocked on its surface, hearing a hollow sound. Of course her statue was hollow. She had no idea what those traitors had filled it with, but it was clear that they did not respect her enough to make her a proper statue. They had tricked her. This made Azula begin to scowl. The tiny people probably sent her there to drown. It just seemed strange that they knew about this place. With the water being everywhere for her too, it would have seemed like an inescapable place for her former subjects. Maybe a lot of their people died after they went through the portal. Maybe that was why they convinced her to go.

Azula jolted when she heard a loud splash. Sitting upright, she saw a giant fish leaping out of the water with its jaws open. Azula used firebending to propel herself over the statue when the fish came back to devour her. She shot up higher, brows furrowing at the sight. The firebender had never seen a creature like that before. It saw her move, and once it had dove back into the water, it wasted little time in leaping again. Azula moved further and kept going. A shadow fell over her and she looked up, eyes widening. A net was dropped off the side of a ship, hitting her and knocking her into the water. The impact was hard and burned the firebender's skin. More of these fish were trapped in there, but they were panicking too much to try to eat the princess. Together, they were hauled onto the deck of the vessel. Azula managed to emerge from between openings in the net. She heard voices that were abnormally loud. None of this seemed right, so she ran to take cover near the boom. For whatever reason, the people here had made an enormous ship, but they would need to return to land.

The ground beneath the princess shook violently with each thud of a boot on the deck. Azula held onto the boom tighter, becoming increasingly frustrated. That was when she looked closer at the vessel. It was hardly constructed like one of the warships in the Fire Nation. It was just made of wood. The ship almost looked more like the kind of sailboat that the princess would have found primitive. Yet, if it was, she did not understand why it was so large or why the ground vibrated the way it did. Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Azula slowly looked around the boom. Her breath caught in her chest when she saw the giants. Instinctively, she hid again. She nearly went towards the water, but she stopped. The only option outside of remaining on the boat was to go back into the sea with the creatures. Azula was too tired for that or to fight the giants, so she decided to wait until they docked, then go off on her own. All she had to do was remain unseen. As she was on the boat, Team Avatar and Levka were traveling to the castle. The guards walked quickly with them. They were in such a rush to meet with the royals that it seemed like they barely waited to be announced. Almost as soon as they entered the palace, the group was going into the throne room. The guards threw Levka forward, making her catch herself as she fell. She did not look up at the couple, knowing she would have too much resentment in her eyes if she did.

"Why's she here?" Tatia asked, brow raised. "We didn't ask for new entertainment."

"No, but she's a specialty bender, and this one," the guard said, pointing to Katara, "has a suggestion."

"We don't need suggestions," Vadim stated. "If the peasant is a specialty bender, she'll be killed like the others."

"But she doesn't have to be," Katara argued. "She can serve in your military. Other specialty benders can too. You could put them on the front lines to fight for your kingdom."

Slowly, the royals' eyes began to widen. They turned to one another.

"They are expendable," Vadim mentioned casually.

"Extremely," Tatia agreed. "If we lose them, it's the same as killing them. That way, they could make their worthless lives purposeful before their deaths. It would be a great chance for them to have meaning prior to the end."

"It would also be a great honor," the king added. "Fighting for their kingdom, what better way is there to spend their lives? They certainly haven't done anything better on the farms or at the markets."

Tatia began chuckling, eyes twinkling with malice. "Imagine all of them being forced to fight. I wonder if they learned combative bending while pulling weeds from between crops."

Her laughter spread to Vadim until the couple were practically in tears. The others in the room remained silent until a harsh look was sent to the soldiers. Unsure what else to do, they awkwardly laughed as well.

"Don't you think that you're overreacting a bit?" Vadim asked, eyes narrowing.

The soldiers quickly stopped laughing, bowing their heads.

"Sorry, Sire."

A quiet groan came from Toph at the display. When the soldiers stood back up, one gestured to Levka.

"What do we do with her then?"

Tatia put a hand to her chin as she considered this. "Take her to the barracks, but create a new section. She shouldn't mingle with nobles. Her filth would soil your uniforms. Make a different building for the peasants. She'll be the first one until you find more."

Again, the soldiers bowed and went to grab Levka. She yanked back her arms. Her head was high and she strode out of the throne room. The friends tried to go as well, but they were prevented by a wall of fire.

"Little buddies," Vadim said, "I've got some questions for you."

Hesitantly, the team turned back to him. He had a smile on his face, but it was not friendly in the slightest. It did not even seem happy. His eyes were filled with anger.

"If the girl in blue got to interject before the soldiers killed the peasant, that means you were outside the castle. Why's that? What were you doing?"

"It was a long day," Aang said. "We're not used to being in one place for long, so we wanted to go for a walk. We were going to come right back."

"Oh, that we know," Tatia stated. "After all, this isn't the first time you left."

The friends tried to not show any of their concern on their faces. They were glad that neither royal had a seismic sense that could have been used to tell that their hearts were racing.

"What do you do when you leave?"

"Walk mostly," Zuko answered. "We're used to exploring different lands, so I guess it was a harder habit to break than we thought."

Vadim gestured to the doorway. "Why'd you get involved with that?"

"We didn't want to see someone die," Suki told him. "Especially not when we could stop it."

"But it's not your place to stop it," Tatia commented, grip tightening around the armrest of her throne. "This is our kingdom. If we have rules which state someone will die, they die. You are not to intervene with that."

Katara clenched her hands into fists, glaring at the couple. "She's an innocent subject of yours. She's a mother too. Your soldiers were ready to kill her in front of her child after they had nearly killed the child before learning the truth."

The bored expression on the giants' faces could have sent her into a rage. Aang put a hand on her shoulder, helping her to calm down. The royals were already in a foul mood. Any wrong move and the friends could all be killed. Then no one would be able to help someone else in a position like the farmer-merchant family.

"You all should apologize," Vadim stated. "It was rude of you to be guests, then make it seem like our company isn't good enough. You don't need to go outside. You just want to because you have no regard for our rules." The king started to stand up, snarling. "It's like Tatia said. This kingdom is ours. We could condemn you to death, and there's no right you have to stop us."

To prove his point, he made a whip of fire go dangerously close to the group. Right after he did, Tatia pulled water out of the air, making icicles which could impale them. The benders got ready to use their abilities to defend themselves as well as they could, but they doubted how effective they would be. Seeing their hesitation, the couple chuckled and ended their attack.

"I won't repeat my request," the king said, pointing downwards. "On your knees."

Bitterness filled the friends, but they knew what would happen if they did not. Slowly, they did as ordered, hearing the chuckling royals as they did.

"Luckily for you, you're fun," Tatia said. She turned to Vadim, silently communicating an idea with him. "I think you can be allowed to leave when we aren't hoping to have a show. You should see more of the kingdom. It's evident that you don't understand how things work here, so that might be the best option. If you're killed by someone outside the safety of the kingdom, that will be your own fault. Just know that if some of you survive, you'll be punished for not taking good care of our toys."

Vadim grinned at this idea. "Yes, so either you all survive unharmed or you all suffer. Since you seem to do everything together, this would align very well with your odd sense of teamwork." He held up a warning finger. "Your fragile, little lives could be stomped out in mere seconds. Get involved somewhere you're not allowed to again, and they will be."

The king removed the fire trap, then gestured to the door. He did not even make an effort for the servants to come get the team. Taking this opportunity, the friends quickly stood up and left the throne room. A tense silence followed them all the way into their chambers. Aang used airbending to close the door behind them. It was still quiet. What ended this silence was Toph stomping a large hole into the ground.

"This is insane!" she shouted furiously, destroying more of the floor with earthbending. "It's like we aren't even people anymore. We really are just toys to them! They act like they're doing us the honor of being allowed to go outside. Those stupid royals don't do anything all day and think that the merchants and farmers are the ones who need purpose? They think they have the right to threaten and humiliate anybody they want just for fun. I wasn't even this much of a prisoner with my parents!"

The earthbender's frown faded some as her face tensed. Her friends recognized this as an unfamiliar expression on her face. She looked slightly fearful.

"It's taking too long to stop them. They really could kill us first," she said. "They're sick. They might even kill one of us at random while the rest have to watch."

Toph felt as Katara embraced her in a comforting hug. The rest of the friends came over as well, each feeling this same concern. They did not know what the future would hold, but they knew they would face it together. As the team stayed in their chambers, Naum was leaving the palace. He had done everything he could think of, and the last thing he wanted was for the royals to tell him to find more work to do. There was nothing else. All his work was supposed to be in the throne room. Bitterly, the man decided that he would get some fresh air. Being by the waves could help clear his mind. Naum briskly moved past other servants, not giving them the chance to ask for anything. The feel of the soft breeze on his face helped, but it did not do much. He reached the coast and saw the moon reflecting on the water. It could have been pretty, but it just made him think of the full moon celebration. Sighing, Naum sat down and closed his eyes. That was when he noticed an odd sound. It made him open his eyes. Not too far from him, he saw a dim glow. It looked blue. Naum got up and started approaching. When he found the source of the light, his eyes widened. Azula's did the same.

The princess had been lighting a fire and shot herself away from Naum. She had managed to evade the sailors. She had to get away from this giant as well. The issue was that there were no other lands in sight. She did not even know if there was more land where she could go if another ship was leaving. Azula began glaring. Those miniscule peasants must have known this was a dimension of monsters. They sent her to be brutally slaughtered. Naum stared at the tiny firebender. Immediately, he made a sphere of air and sent it towards her. The power was too much for Azula to remain in the air. It caused her to nearly crash into the ground. She barely stopped herself in time by using more fire to brace the fall.

"I apologize for this," Naum said, half-speaking the truth. "I just can't have more insects in this kingdom. The last ones have taken enough from me already."

His words made Azula's eyes widen. She saw the sole of his shoe go above her.

"Is one of them scarred?" she asked suddenly.

Naum hesitated, lifting his foot again before putting it on the ground beside his other one. "Yes."

"And another has tattoos?"

"Yes again. I guess it's not too weird for you to know them. You all must be from the same world."

"We are, but they're not my allies. It sounds like you hate them. So do I. We could work together to kill them."

Naum regarded the firebender suspiciously. "Why should I believe that? You're probably their friend and are just trying to find a way to survive."

Azula looked offended by the implication. "They're beneath me. I've been the scarred one's enemy practically since I was born. As for the others, I've hated them for as long as I've known who they were."

"Who are you?"

"I'm a princess," Azula stated haughtily. "The princess of the Fire Nation."

The airbender appeared unimpressed. "Well, the royals we have here are in charge of all benders in our area."

"It's almost like the tiny lands," Azula commented quietly. She began to speak louder. "You're underestimating that team if you think you can get rid of them alone." Pausing, the princess saw something in Naum's gaze that revealed more than his words did. "You don't know how to kill them."

Suddenly, the airbender let out a frustrated grunt. "No, I don't. It's like they're immortal! I sent a bear after them and they still survived. A bear! You see how large I am next to you. Imagine if I were a bear. Somehow, they didn't die from that either. They're still in that castle, taking my position."

"What's your position?"

"I'm a jester."

Azula chuckled dismissively, causing Naum to glare at her.

"Well, I am sure that you would hate to lose such an esteemed title," she stated sarcastically.

"It means a lot more here than you think. Any kind of good favor with the king and queen can mean the difference between life and death."

The princess's smile faded. "Interesting. Then it sounds like you definitely need my help. If the team is pushing you out of the king and queen's good graces, it's only a matter of time before you're executed."

A pit formed in Naum's stomach, him believing this was all too likely to be true. "What do you suggest?"

"First, I need to rest. It's been a long and peculiar day. In the morning, we can discuss that." Azula looked around. "Where am I anyway?"

"This is the kingdom of Krozhny."

Krozhny. That would be the princess's new place to rule. It just was going to be a bigger challenge in every sense of the word. Azula was not sure if it was because she was delirious from exhaustion or had spent a year in boredom, but this sounded like a thrilling possibility.

"Take me somewhere I can rest for the night, Jester," she ordered.

Naum regarded her, shocked. "You're very confident for someone I was about to kill."

"That was before you realized you needed me."

"I don't know yet if I need you. If it turns out that I don't, you might wish that you were more polite."

Azula felt an odd twinge of something in her stomach. She was not entirely sure what it was, but her expression remained calm. The giant held out his hand.

"Get on then," he said. "I'll take you to the castle with me."

The firebender stepped onto his palm and was placed in one of his pockets. Naum started bringing her back to the palace as Azula considered what her next move would be. It was not too much longer afterwards that Yeva reentered the castle first. He was not noticed as he went to the team's chambers. The prince quietly knocked on the door.

"Come in," Aang said.

Yeva opened the door, a worried look on his face. He saw the group and parts of the damaged floor.

"We feared the worst when you didn't show up."

"We got a little distracted," Sokka said, sighing. "On a related note, the military just got bigger."

Yeva's eyes widened. "What?"

"Word got out that there's a specialty bender outside the noble families," Zuko stated unhappily.

"And this led to the military getting bigger?"

Suki nodded. "Katara managed to convince Vadim and Tatia that it would be better to put the bender into the military instead of killing her."

"Good work," the prince said, smiling. "That was smart thinking."

Katara's brows furrowed slightly. "I know what it's like to have your mom sacrifice herself for you. Masha shouldn't have to go through that." She felt Sokka's hand on her shoulder and smiled. "It felt nice to stop that from happening. I just wish I could have done more."

"None of us will be able to do too much," Toph stated, deflated. "The royals know that we've been leaving."

"They said we still can," Sokka added, looking at the prince, "but they're probably going to be watching us a lot more. If we do anything too suspicious…"

A frown covered Yeva's face. He could sense the lowering spirits in the group. It was similar to what it felt like when his rebels were first assembled.

"The royals think they can stop you," he said, sounding confident. "They think they're above all rules and laws. To them, their reign is never ending and they might as well be invulnerable. That's where their greatest weakness is. They'll never be able to stop threats they don't even know exist. As long as they view themselves as superior, they'll always underestimate what we can do."

His words caused the group to feel slightly better. It seemed familiar. They knew about rulers who thought they were unstoppable. It was always satisfying to prove them wrong.

"For now," Yeva continued, "you should probably lay low. Don't come to the meeting place just yet. We'll let them think that your spirits have been broken." To the friends' surprise, Yeva smiled again. "In fact, I think I know a way to lift your spirits."

"What?" Aang asked, feeling both curious and a bit excited by the giant's grin.

"Well, since you're all so small, it would probably be easy to turn everyday objects into ones for fun." Yeva looked around the room, gaze landing on a bowl. "Like this. I can get a few more so that it could become like a day at the beach. I'm sure that some of the servants have that sand from the one performance too."

Sokka's face broke out into a smile. "It has been a long stay here. A day at the beach could be just what we need."

The other friends showed a range of being excited about this idea to feeling relatively indifferent. Yeva briefly left the room in order to get the bowls he had mentioned. When he returned, he was with some servants who were carrying containers of sand whereas others had bowls full of water. They poured the sand onto the ground, making a large mound. Before the team could approach, a small sample of the grains was taken by the servants and placed in a metal pot. A firebending subject began to blow a controlled flame into the sand, making it melt as it filled the pot. Next, an airbending servant started to cool the material so that the others could hold and shape it with their hands. Team Avatar observed in fascination as the sand was turned into a glass bowl. It was unlike the others. This bowl had a low spout that was not covered on the top, so it would act like a slide for the friends. Another servant set down some tiny swim clothes.

"Sorry that we can't do more," Yeva stated.

"This is plenty," Katara assured him, smiling softly. "Thanks."

The prince smiled as well and turned to leave with the servants. When they were gone, the friends changed into their swimwear. Aang and Sokka were the first to try out the slide, which became a water slide due to the Avatar's involvement and the water from the giants' bowls. It was refreshing to hear their laughter. The familiar sound had grown too uncommon in recent days. The duo's eagerness was contagious and quickly spread to Suki, then Katara. Soon, both sets of couples were enjoying the slide and swimming around.

"I wonder if you got any better with sandcastles," Zuko commented, walking over to Toph.

The two of them were the only ones not fully distracted by this activity, but the fire lord hoped that he could help that change for his friend. Toph knew what he was doing, but she still smirked.

"Can't get any better than perfect, but if you're curious…"

She repaired the ground that she had destroyed earlier, then began making elaborate formations in the sand. This time, she recreated Xei and Rhijaj, including all the people that they knew. Something caught Zuko's eye and he chuckled.

"Can't help but notice you added some statues."

"I still think Sokka and I would have made great subjects for their sculptors. You should think of asking for one too."

The small smile stayed on Zuko's face. "I'll let that be your thing."

"Suit yourself."

It did not take long before the new sand structures drew attention. Sokka left the slide to see what Toph had made. When he saw his statue, he beamed.

"Ah, the good ol' days," he lamented. "I can almost hear their voices as they call us 'Great Beings.'"

Toph tapped the ground with her foot, making some of the mini sand people bow. Sokka smiled even wider and Suki chuckled at the duo, joining them.

"Missing Xei and Rhijaj?" she asked.

"Aren't you? As long as Toph can make them move around, we can pretend like we're still there."

"Don't we have more to worry about than playing make believe with sand?" Zuko asked, arms crossed.

"Hey, you brought up sandcastles," Toph reminded him, already loving the idea.

"Yeah, but I didn't think we were going to start talking to sand people or anything."

"You really shouldn't blame us for your lack of creativity," Sokka commented, finding the fake Durnaz. "Can you make Suki a statue too?"

"I'm really okay," the warrior insisted.

"Come on!" he encouraged, eyes bright. "The couple statues are the best! I bet Aang and Katara are going to do one."

"We're not getting statues, Sokka," the waterbender told him.

She and Aang were still in one of the makeshift pools, splashing each other. They tuned into the sound of their names being mentioned.

"We're not?" Aang asked, head tilting. "A couple statue could be kind of fun."

Katara chuckled. "You're as bad as Sokka." She paused to consider this more. "I guess as long as they're the same size as the people, that might not be asking too much. I still wouldn't feel right asking."

"We don't have to ask," Sokka stated. "We can just very casually mention how cool it would be to have statues. I'm sure they'll pick up on the hint."

Toph grinned widely. "Yeah! They'll definitely know what we mean with that. Before we know it, there'll be statues everywhere."

She began forming more, only missing one member of the team. Sokka went over and poked Zuko's shoulder.

"You're the only one left," he said. "You know you want a statue."

"I really don't."

"You just want them to say 'Our war was ended by five fearsome giants who you can see memorizalied on the right…oh, and I think there was some other guy, but we don't talk about him.' Weird call, pal."

Zuko sighed as his friends laughed, all coming over to see their new statues. Soon enough, they had begun making their own versions of statues. It came to no one's surprise that Sokka was sculpting Suki again. This version looked slightly more humanoid than the last. After a few minutes, the Water Tribe boy's attempt inspired Zuko to make a small statue to resemble Mai. When he heard an "aw" over his shoulder from Suki, his face became hot and he pretended to be doing something else. The activity was helping levity to begin being felt in the room. The friends enjoyed their makeshift beach and the water, just relaxing for the first time in a while. It helped them to recenter their minds and begin thinking more clearly about their next actions. Suddenly, there was a change felt. Toph stood up abruptly and her friends turned to her.

"What happened?" Sokka asked.

"Someone else is in the palace now."

"Who?" Suki inquired.

A worried frown covered Toph's face. "We're not the only tiny people here anymore."