The morning started early, but for Naum, it felt like it had never stopped being night. He did not sleep. He could only think about taking Azula to see the royals. His mind played out all the ways it could go horribly wrong. When the man could no longer stand the wait, he got up and prepared to leave. Azula had been ready the entire time. Although she was not anxious about meeting the king and queen, she was hoping to go sooner than later. Naum opened his hand for her to hop on, then the two of them began heading to the throne room. The guards announced them before they entered. Naum could feel the royals' surprised gazes on him as he bowed. He kept his hands behind his back.

"Naum," Vadim said, brow raised, "what are you doing here? We haven't asked for you to come over."

"No, but there is someone I believe you would enjoy meeting, Your Highness."

"We were going to have the little friends perform soon," Tatia stated, brows furrowing. "Whatever you're planning, make it fast."

"My apologies. I just thought you might be interested in meeting another person with their stature."

Immediately, the royals seemed intrigued. They relaxed slightly in their seats, only barely concealing how excited they were.

"You should have led with that," Vadim commented. "Very well. Introduce us."

Naum stood back up and held out his hand. Azula looked at the royals, who gawked back at her.

"He was right," Tatia said, amazed. "He really found another one."

Azula politely dipped her head. "Your Majesties, I arrived in this great kingdom and was hoping that I could see who was responsible for it all."

The royals puffed up proudly.

"That would be us. I'm King Vadim and this is my wife, Queen Tatia."

"How did you get here?" the queen inquired. "It seems like we're having quite the influx of miniature people."

"I was brought by a sort of portal," Azula answered.

"And were you around other things your size?"

"I was not. At the time, I was in a land of people much smaller than I was. There, I was the giant."

Azula tensed when she heard laughter. It was annoying. The only thing which made it more ear-grating was how long it was lasting.

"You're kidding!" Vadim exclaimed, wiping away tears. "Y-you couldn't have been a giant. If you were, then the other people must've been…"

He brought his thumb and pointed finger close together. Tatia leaned forward to look, then shook her head.

"No, Dear, that's still too big. They'd have to be invisible!"

"True!"

They started laughing again and Azula regarded them coldly.

"I was their queen," she stated.

"A queen of the nonexistent," Tatia declared, giggling.

"No, no," Vadim said. "That's just too cruel. Let's call her the Queen of Bugs."

"I adore that!"

If Azula heard them laugh a fourth time, she was certain that she would have shot lightning straight through their hearts.

"My point," she said, cutting through the sound, "was that I have experience with small people. It's easy to think they'll follow you, but I was betrayed. I heard that there are more people here who are my size. I think you should be wary of them. They can't be trusted."

"Aw, but we like them. Breaking toys is always more work since we'd have to get new ones," Vadim commented, bored. He started looking fascinated again. "Do you know if we could access the world you left? I'd like to see those bugs."

"I know where I came in, but the portal closed."

"How do we open it?" Tatia inquired.

"I'm not sure. I haven't tried, but there wouldn't be much for you to do in a place like that. You wouldn't have anything to eat or a place to spend the night."

The couple turned to one another.

"I still think it could be interesting," Vadim said. "Where else would we get a chance to see something like that?"

"And there's still your world, Bug Queen," Tatia stated. "How did you leave it?"

"Another portal pulled me in."

"These portals," the waterbender said, exasperated. "They're everywhere except where we want them to be."

"Well, maybe we'll just have to make a portal ourselves," Vadim suggested. "Then we could rule over people like her."

Azula did not bother telling them that portals could not be created. If they wanted to make fools of themselves in this imbecilic pursuit, that was their prerogative. She just needed them to be useful before they got too sidetracked by fruitless quests.

"If you do," Azula said, "the team will definitely try to stop you. They're very protective of that world. Even if they're a lot smaller than you are, they won't stop until they've found a way to sabotage your plans."

Naum anxiously watched the royals. He had let Azula talk so that she would be the recipient of their wrath if her words upset them, but he finally contributed to the conversation.

"It could be like when ants overcome a sleeping beast, my lieges," he said. "It is no fault of the beast, but the ants are such dangerous, hateful pests that they must be destroyed before they can cause harm."

A long pause followed, which only made the airbender more worried. Then Tatia spoke.

"Poor Naum, you must be really scared of those friends if you're willing to risk annoying us with these attempts to turn us against them."

"I speak only as a concerned subject, Your Highness."

"Your concern is of little interest. The friends, however, are very interesting." The queen leaned forward. "You can go, but be sure to bring this little stranger back soon. I want to hear more about her."

"Should I send in the other tiny people?"

"You can," Vadim said. "We learned some interesting information today, and I'd like to see what they have to say about it. Also, we'll have to think of what the new stranger can do before we can enjoy the plays again. Maybe she can act as a damsel in distress."

Azula immediately frowned at the king, but he did not notice or care.

"The others aren't always good at acting," Tatia stated. "It would be nice if you were better at it. Authenticity is best. So, I wonder if you know how to scream in terror. I think I'll be in the mood for a horror-themed play soon. Try."

The princess was quiet for a moment, assuming that she was misunderstanding the situation. It had to be some sort of joke; however, neither royal appeared to be smiling.

"You were given an order," Vadim said, eyes narrowing.

"Which was what exactly?" Azula asked, trying to not let her tone become too hostile.

"Sound scared," Tatia elaborated. "It'll help us decide on how to assign you to your role."

Azula could not stop a glare from crossing her face. It surprised the royals.

"She doesn't seem like the others," Vadim commented. "She's got a certain…harshness to her."

"I was noticing that too," the queen admitted. "I don't think I like it. The friends know their place in this kingdom, but she'll learn."

"I already know my place," Azula hissed. "It's not beneath you or any other giant fool."

Blood drained from Naum's face. He subtly stepped back, letting the small newcomer remain in between him and the royals. They were radiating with rage. Lightning sparkled on Vadim's hands and viciousness was in Tatia's eyes.

"What was that?" she asked. "I think we misheard you."

Azula knew that provoking them would not help her plan, but she had spent too much time being demeaned already. She refused to be disrespected in this new world as well.

"I can be an ally to you," she stated. "I'm not an actress or a servant. If you want to explore other worlds, you need to get rid of those friends. To do that, you need me. That's where my place is—right beside you."

Azula's eyes widened when she saw a flash of lightning. It was larger than any she had ever seen. Its speed was greater than she was accustomed to. Azula regretted not knowing how to redirect lightning. Instinctively, she moved back. Part of it got her right shoulder and the side of her neck, causing a searing pain. The princess sharply inhaled, then got into a fighting stance. As soon as she did, she saw that she was surrounded by blades made of ice. They got closer, daring her to move a muscle and sever a limb in the process. She was rendered motionless by this.

"Don't try to tell us how we'll be successful," Vadim warned. "They are as weak as you are against us, so just start getting ready for a play instead of trying to act more important than you are."

Tatia melted the ice, making water splash onto Azula. The princess held her breath to prevent the large amount of liquid from drowning her. When she could breathe again, she did not immediately leave. It would be shameful to turn away from a challenge like this. The royals were trying to make her believe that she was subservient to them. Azula refused to be in service to anyone. She started an attack of her own. If the king wanted to shoot her with lightning, she would shoot him back. The queen saw what she was attempting and laughed. With a quick swipe of her hand, she manipulated the melted water. It struck Azula, making her hit a wall. The impact knocked the air out of her.

"This is only fun for so long," Tatia said. "If we want to torture someone, we have normal-sized subjects for that. For people like you, you live longer when you offer us something new."

Azula pushed off the wall. She could still fight them. She had to. It would be a disgrace to her bloodline if she allowed herself to be defeated so easily. Before the firebender could do anything, Naum picked her up. His grip was tight enough to prevent an escape. The jester bowed to the royals, then left. Azula tried to get free, pushing against him.

"I wasn't done," she growled.

"Yes, you were," he whispered. "Right now, you're the only one who hates those friends as much as I do. If you want to get yourself killed, do it after they're dead."

Azula glared at Naum as he went back to his chambers, dropping her off on the bed before leaving and locking the door behind him. He told some servants to get Team Avatar. Before long, the friends were returning to the throne room, but the royals did not have a play on their minds. They barely let the group enter before they got to their questions. A small comfort to the Gaang was sensing Yeva nearby. Although he was not in the throne room, he was close enough, seemingly speaking with servants. They knew that he was paying attention to how this interaction went.

"Before your arrival here, were you in a land where you were giants?" Vadim asked.

Hesitantly, Aang nodded. "We were."

"Did you get there through a portal?"

"We did, but we don't really know how it works," Katara added.

Vadim appeared curious. "If you and the new stranger were able to reach that land, there's got to be a way for us to go."

"We could travel to other dimensions and expand the kingdom that way," Tatia mentioned, sounding excited. She looked back at the group. "And everything in your world is the same size as you, right?"

Instantly, the friends became paranoid.

"Mostly," Sokka said, not wanting to disclose too much more information.

The royals seemed to sense that the group was not being entirely forthcoming.

"We'd like to see both worlds soon," the queen informed them.

Team Avatar did not say much else. This annoyed the large couple, but they were also too full of curiosity to be angry for long.

"Well, we have some plans to discuss," Vadim said. "You all can leave."

Briskly, the friends turned to go. They began returning to their chambers, and Yeva subtly followed them. When it was no longer suspicious to do so, he entered the room.

"Do you really not know how those portals work?" he asked. "If you do, I don't blame you for not telling them."

"We really don't," Aang admitted. "Both times, they just opened up for us and we got pulled in."

"We actually only came here because the portal was catching so many people from the world we were in," Suki revealed. "We wanted to see where they were being taken."

Yeva's eyes widened in concern. "I'm not sure if someone even smaller than you would be able to survive."

"We thought about that too," Zuko commented. "We'll have to tell the others when we go back."

"I'm sorry to hear that…but if you don't know how the portals work, how exactly would you go back?"

His question caused a tense pause.

"We're trying to figure that out," Aang answered. "This has all been a pretty confusing situation for us."

Yeva nodded, frowning slightly. "I'll help in any way that I can. We need to make sure that the King and Queen never learn how the portals work. They'd keep searching for new places to take over."

"It would be great if they went to a dimension where they were the small people," Toph said, grinning deviously at the thought.

"It would be pretty poetic," Aang agreed.

"For now, let's see what we can do about this dimension," Sokka suggested. "If Vadim and Tatia's schedule is full of plotting today, we'll be able to go check on the new recruits."

"That's a good idea," Yeva complimented. "I haven't been able to get too close. The soldiers must have been told not to let me watch the training. Every time I try to see what's going on, they have someone lead me away."

"At least that's a benefit of being so small," Katara said. "They shouldn't notice us."

"I'll keep an eye on the royals here while you're doing that."

Yeva started to leave, then paused. He had a curious expression on his face.

"This is probably a silly question," he commented, "but how did you all have somewhere to sleep if you were in a world where you were the giants?"

"We were able to raise the ground up from beneath the sea and use it," Katara explained.

"If we hadn't, we wouldn't have been able to go anywhere without accidentally stepping on someone," Sokka added.

Yeva tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Whoever you were around at the time, they were fortunate to have caring people like you show up instead of someone like the King or the Queen."

The group smiled slightly because of his words. With this new plan, they began to split up. Yeva returned to the hallway of the palace, and Toph led the others as she sensed where there were a lot of people gathered.

"I think that the villagers are being kept over here," she revealed. As they got closer, she cringed. "Their training seems brutal."

"I'm not shocked," Suki commented. "Everything the royals are involved in is cruel."

The group started getting closer, hearing some pained grunts. When they were nearer to the training grounds, they saw some tired recruits being kicked by angry sergeants. It took everything in the Gaang to not respond. Finally, the commanding officers stopped their abuse and ordered the people to get some water. Whether it was due to being bored of attacking them or realizing that they could die otherwise, the recruits were just glad to be given the break. This allowed time for the tiny people to creep forward.

"Levka's in the back of the room with a few of the others," Toph whispered.

Remaining hidden under the ground, they got closer to the metalbender. It would have been too risky to let everyone see them. Even if the recruits were not enemies, the friends knew what people could do when they thought that sharing information would give themselves safety. So, they waited until they were right next to the woman's shoe, then they popped out of the ground. Levka almost jumped, but she kept her expression the same.

"You have to stop doing that," she whispered. "Someone might see you."

"We know," Aang said. "We wanted to check on you, but we're going to stay in here to keep from drawing attention."

The merchant sighed softly. "I've been better."

"You're bleeding," Katara commented, seeing some blood on the mother's neck.

Levka wiped it off with her hand. "It's fine. Some of the others have it worse than I do since they aren't used to this kind of work."

"Are you?" Suki asked.

"Not really, but my parents taught me the basics to fight in case I ever needed it. I don't think they knew how helpful that would end up being." Levka glanced away from them. "How are Masha and Alexei?"

"They miss you," the Avatar revealed, "so they're working to get you back to them."

This made the metalbender look down at him in shock. "What are you talking about?"

"They joined the rebellion," Sokka said. "Along with Prince Yeva and some others, they're going to see how we can turn this whole 'new brigade' situation to our benefit."

"They shouldn't get involved."

"You can't ask them not to," Katara stated, eyes earnest. "They love you. Masha felt so responsible for everything. I don't think anything would make her stop."

"She has to. I didn't come here so that she would still die."

"Her fighting doesn't mean that she will die," Zuko insisted. "The more people we have on our side, the better our chances are for stopping the royals."

"I don't know if anything's going to stop them."

The friends were quiet, saddened by how lost Levka sounded. She no longer seemed as spirited as before. She just had a depressed look in her eyes.

"I don't want those two putting themselves in danger. The soldiers were going to kill a child just for having a rare type of bending. If they think she's a rebel, they could torture her. I-I couldn't bear to know she and Alexei went through that."

"We'll do all we can to protect them," Katara stated confidently. "We want them to be safe too. Try to keep your head up."

The mother was going to say something else, but the break had already ended. An angry yell from a soldier called her and the other recruits back outside. Levka looked at the group once more.

"This isn't over," Aang assured her. "You will be able to go back to your family, Levka. Trust us."

With a quiet nod of her head, the recruit returned outside with the others. When she left, Team Avatar went back underground. They started walking to the castle again.

"How are we actually going to stop all of this?" Suki asked quietly.

It was not easy for the others to come up with a solution. Zuko was the first to speak, but even he was not sure of what he was really trying to say.

"In Xei and Rhijaj, we had to get the groups to work together."

"But that's not really an issue here," Katara pointed out. "Yeva already has his rebels, who have people from different social classes. It could use more members, but I don't think teamwork is the problem."

"I wasn't actually talking about the subjects."

His friends turned to him curiously.

"Azula?" Aang asked.

The firebender nodded. "Maybe we're supposed to work with her."

Aang frowned slightly, but he considered that. "Maybe. It does seem too coincidental if she was sent to both places too and that meant nothing. I just don't know what's supposed to be accomplished by a temporary alliance."

"That's what I was thinking," Sokka admitted. "If we team up for a day, then go back to her trying to kill us, what did we actually get done?"

Zuko got quiet before sighing softly. "I honestly don't even know if she'd be willing to work together anyway. I'm just trying to think of something we could use to get out of here."

"You could be onto something," Suki said. "If the answer was easy, we probably wouldn't have been sent here to help in the first place. So, maybe it's our turn to be tested or something like that."

"I'm sick of getting tested," Toph said, grunting softly. "I hope we hurry up and pass, so things can go back to how they were."

The group arrived at the palace, going into their chambers. As they did, morbid thoughts were going through the mind of the jester. Maybe Azula was right about killing the king and queen. Naum could have been setting his goals too low. He still was not sure about leading the people. That would be a much bigger job than what he was accustomed to doing, but if the princess had experience, he could use her. She could become an advisor, and he would reap all the rewards. Naum knew that his options were not endless. He would either get rid of the royals or they would get rid of him. The airbender could see the bloodlust in their eyes. They were getting tired of his shows and company. If the day where they no longer wanted him around came before the day of their demise, it would cost Naum his life. This was no price he was willing to pay. He had been ready to kill pests. Now, it was time to set his sights on beasts. The jester would have returned to his room if he knew that his line of thinking was not matching Azula's.

A princess of the greatest nation in the world would not be turned into a slave. Azula would never allow this. She would not be terrorized by the royals for their amusement. The firebender ignored how fast her heart was beating. She felt no fear for having almost been killed. She had not truly been in that much danger. If the firebender wanted to, she could have deflected the attack. That is exactly what would have happened had she not been so surprised by the recent developments. This was the only reason that she had gotten hurt. Azula brought a hand up to her neck. It was still stinging. Her shoulder was not any better. She had never been hit with lightning before. Her trainers did not know how to do it, and she would have killed them for trying if Ozai did not get to them first. Naturally, he never shot it at her either. Briefly, her thoughts went to her brother. If being struck in the shoulder and part of her neck was so irritating, she wondered how excruciating it was for her blast to hit him in the core. Just as quickly as the thought came, it left. Azula should not have been thinking of Zuko in the first place. It was Krozhny's fault and the fault of those tiny traitors for sending her there. She needed to leave. She had to get out of there. So, Azula started burning a hole in the wall and escaped the palace.