Azara placed the jug down on the ground as she arrived at the stream. Holding the jug under the water, Azara waited patiently for it to fill before picking it up and walking back to camp. As she neared their settlement, she could hear Sokka and Katara bickering. Rolling her eyes playfully, Azara set the jug next to Appa as Aang intervened.

"Settling feuds and making peace, all in a day's work for the Avatar," Aang sighed in content as Azara gathered the wood Katara had thrown to the ground. Setting up the fire, Azara nodded in thanks as Sokka handed her more wood and lit the fire. After dinner was prepared and served, the group turned in for the night, knowing they had a long journey ahead of them.

The next morning, after quickly packing up camp, the group arrived at the edge of the Great Divide, the largest series of canyons in the world. "It's beautiful," Azara commented as a light breeze moved through her dark locks.

"Yeah well you see one rock, you've seen them all," Sokka insisted, causing Azara to elbow him.

"How can you not be fascinated Sokka? This is the largest canyon in the entire whole world?" Katara asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Then I'm sure we'll be able to see it very clearly from the air while we fly away," Sokka shrugged before he was roughly pushed to the side by a man in an eccentric white tunic.

"If you're looking for the canyon guide, I'm afraid you'll have to wait, I was here first!" the man announced, his voice already grating on Azara's nerves. She raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms over her chest, but she bit back any comments.

"Canyon guide?" she questioned, tilting her head to the side.

"He's an earthbender, and the only way in and out of the canyon is with his help. And he's taking my tribe across next," the man continued as Sokka made gestures behind the man with his hand, indicating the man would not shut up. Azara coughed to hide her chuckle, unintendingly drawing the attention of the man to herself.

"You think this is funny?" he questioned, getting into Azara's personal space.

"I never said it was funny," Azara replied calmly, but the man obviously had a few screws lose.

"You wouldn't think it's funny if the Fire Nation destroyed your home and forced you to flee! My whole tribe has to walk thousands of miles to the capital city of Ba Sing Se," the man stated, gesturing to the Great Divide behind them.

"You're a refugee," Katara gasped as the man placed his hands on his hips.

"Tell me something I don't know."

Looking over her shoulder, Azara spotted a group of people walking towards them. "Are those your people?" Aang questioned, pointing at the people dressed in ragged brown robes.

"It most certainly is not! That's the Zhang tribe, a bunch of low-life thieves. They've been the enemies of my tribe for a hundred years," the man droned on, causing Azara to sigh. Maybe Sokka was right, they should have just seen the Great Divide from above. "Hey Zhangs! I'm saving a spot for my tribe so don't even think about stealing it!" the man yelled, waving his arms again.

"Where are the rest of the Gan Jin? Still tidying their campsite?" the leader of the Zhang tribe scoffed, moving to stand in front of the erratic man.

"Yes, but they sent me ahead of them to hold a spot," the man snapped as Azara and Aang shared a look. The tension in the air was palpable. Azara was almost certain the Zhang leader would pick the Gan Jin man up and throw him into the canyon.

"I didn't know the canyon guide took reservations," the Zhang leader replied, a challenging look in her eyes. As the Gan Jin man returned with a slew of insults, the rock wall behind them started to shake. Azara turned around to see an earthbender with a big white bushy mustache appear from the canyon.

"Sorry for the wait, youngsters. Who's ready to cross the canyon?" he asked, dusting himself off. Azara pointed at the arguing people behind her.

"I was here first; my party is on their way!" the Gan Jin man shouted, rushing forwards.

"I can't lead people who aren't here," the guide shrugged as the Zhang tribe walked forwards.

"Guess you guys will have to make the trip tomorrow," the Zhang leader scoffed.

"Wait! Here they come!" the Gan Jin man announced, gesturing wildly to the people in white walking towards them. Azara noted the clean white clothing and more delicate features of the Gan Jin tribe in comparison to the rather brutish appearance of the Zhangs. The two tribes really were opposite. As the two tribes collided and spewed insults at each other, Azara turned to Aang.

"Aang, might want to use some of those peacemaking skills now," she whispered, looking worriedly at the arguing leaders.

"I don't know. A fight over chores is one thing, but these people have been feuding for a hundred years," Aang sighed as Azara turned back to the warring groups, a determined look on her face. Stepping forwards, Azara yelled for attention from them.

"Hey! Why can't you just share the canyon guide?" she suggested, gesturing to the earthbender, who nodded in approval.

"Wait! Is that Princess Azara of the Fire Nation?" someone called from the crowd. Suddenly Azara felt every set of eyes on her and her palms were quickly growing sweaty.

"Uh . . . yeah," Azara replied quietly, instantly causing a tsunami of accusations and screaming directed at her. At the sight of his friend being verbally assaulted, Aang stepped forwards, his voice commanding attention.

"Alright listen up! You're all going down together and Appa will take your old and sick people across! Does that seem fair?" Aang shouted, his glare silencing even the biggest whiners. As the sick and elderly of both tribes were loaded onto Appa's back, Azara hung back with the canyon guide away from the refugees who very clearly wanted nothing to do with her.

"So, you really are the Fire Nation princess, huh?" the canyon guide asked gently, causing Azara to nod in response. "I'm not going to yell at you if that's what you're wondering."

"I thank you for that," Azara replied, a small smile on her face. "Really, I do."

"I assume that's the kind of welcome you get most of the time," the canyon guide spoke as Azara nodded, looking over at the Zhangs and Gan Jins. "Look, kid, you're never going to make everyone happy, especially not people like that."

"Refugees?"

"Whiny people," the canyon guide corrected, glancing over at the Zhangs and Gan Jins. "I mean look at them. They're not even willing to work together for their own survival. I don't think there's anything you can do to change their minds."

"I should still try, though . . . right?" Azara asked, looking up at the canyon guide.

"That's up to you, I suppose. Actions speak louder than words, often. Showing how you're only here to help, rather than just apologizing, might yield better results."

"Thank you for your advice," Azara nodded, standing up as the canyon guide moved to address the crowd of refugees.

"Okay, now comes the bad news! No food allowed in the canyon, it attracts dangerous predators," the earthbender announced, quickly earning several cries and complaints from the group, but the canyon guide was having none of it.

"No food," Sokka whined, causing Azara to shoot him a look.

"Oh, how will you survive?" she teased as Sokka glared at her playfully. Spotting the canyon guide starting into the canyon, Azara walked behind Katara and in front of Sokka as they descended to the bottom of the canyon.

"Many of you are probably wondering how canyons are formed. Experts tell us this canyon was most likely carved into the ground by earth spirits who were angry at local farmers for not offering them a proper sacrifice," the earthbender explained as an avalanche of rocks dropped down the side of the canyon. The canyon guide redirected them with ease before smiling. "Guess the spirits are still angry. Hope you all brought sacrifices!"

Sokka and Azara shared a worried expression as the canyon guide continued walking down the pathway. "Angry spirits? Honestly, it could be worse at this point," Azara sighed as the group reached the canyon floor. With a quick kick of his foot, the canyon guide broke the bridge that had allowed the group to get to the canyon floor.

"Wouldn't want the Fire Nation tailing us, would we?" the guide asked as a wave of dust filled the space. Suddenly,  a large bug-like creature grabbed him. Screams of the refugees echoed around the canyon as Sokka stepped forwards and threw his boomerang at the creature. The bug tossed the canyon guide to the side before chasing after Sokka.

"Hey!" Azara yelled, whipping some fire at the bug. It turned and screeched at her, before charging. Azara narrowed her eyes and sent a blast of fire directly at the bug, causing it to screech in pain and run off. Ignoring the murmurs about her firebending, Azara ran over to Katara, who was helping the canyon guide sit up. "Is he alright?" she asked as Katara shook her head.

"His arms are broken," she deduced, causing Azara to pale in fear.

"Without my arms, I got no bending. In other words—" the canyon guide coughed out, clearly in a great deal of pain.

"—We're trapped in this canyon," Aang stated, a sense of dread settling over the group.

"This is all her fault!" the Gan Jin man from earlier yelled, pointing a finger at Azara.

"How is it her fault? She just got the canyon crawler to leave us alone," Sokka pointed out, stepping in front of her. Grabbing Sokka's shoulder with her hand, she tugged him back to face her.

"Just ignore them, we have bigger problems at hand," she spoke quietly, glancing at the Gan Jins and Zhangs, who were glaring at her figure.

"I bet she snuck food down!" another voice called out as Azara helped Katara bandage the canyon guide's arms. She did well to tune them out and not react to their insults. Soon enough the two tribes turned on each other and quickly began to throw accusations at each other again.

"Enough! I thought I could help you guys get along, but I guess that's not going to happen," Aang shouted as everyone turned to stare up at him. "We should split up. Gan Jins on this side and Zhangs on that side. We'll travel in two separate lines," Aang ordered, causing the two tribes to shuffle towards their determined paths. Azara helped the canyon guide stand as Aang turned to his friends.

"Sokka, you go with the Zhangs, and Katara, you go with the Gan Jins. See if you can find out why they hate each other so much," Aang spoke as Katara and Sokka nodded in affirmation.

"Azara, which group did you want to walk with?" Katara questioned as Azara shook her head.

"I think I'll just hang with Aang, if that's cool," Azara replied as the airbender nodded happily. They split up and started on their separate pathways.