Katara was frustrated.
Sure, she was the Avatar's girlfriend, but that didn't mean that all these guys on the street had to look at her like- like- gah! She didn't even have words for how they looked at her!
As she angrily waterbent the water in the pond around her (paying no attention to how upset the turtle-ducks were at her actions) she did not hear the footsteps coming closer and closer to her.
"Katara?" A male voice asked.
Interrupted from her angry bending she lashed out at the voice with a quick water-whip and, were it not for the man's quick movement, likely would have hurt the speaker.
Whirling around ready for a fight Katara was startled to meet the eyes of the Fire Lord.
He raised an eyebrow at her battle stance as he calmly clasped his own hands behind his back. "Is there something I can help you with?"
She huffed in response.
"I'll take that as a no then." Zuko stated as he calmly walked closer and sat himself down by the pond.
She watched as he drew bread out of seemingly nowhere (though she knew he always kept some in his robes for just such occasions) and began to feed the waterfowl.
With a sigh all her anger seemed to drain out of her and she flopped to the ground.
"It- it's just-" Another sigh escaped her as she watch the birds gather around Zuko. "It's just the guys here in the Fire Nation."
Zuko raised an eyebrow at her as he looked at her. "The guys? What about them? Have they hurt or insult you in any way?" The anger in his eyes was clear for her to see when he asked the last question.
She shook her head in denial. "No they haven't done anything; and that's the problem!"
As she flopped onto her back in distress Zuko's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "How does people not bothering you bother you? That doesn't make any sense!"
Katara laughed a little when she noticed her friend's expression. "It's just that I've been the center of attention of males almost everywhere we (as in me and Aang) go. But every time we come to the Fire Nation, all I get are these- these- looks! I don't even know how to describe them! What is wrong with your citizens Zuko that they have yet to complement me in all the times I've been here?!"
Zuko looked affronted as he spoke up to defend his people. "It's not them that's messed up, it's you!"
Before Katara had finished turning her head to glare at him he was already backpedaling.
"I mean, you're not messed up! It's your clothes! They're all wrong and contradictory!"
"What." Katara said as she began to glare at Zuko. How dare he insult her sense of fashion! She looked amazing in this outfit! Even Tough complemented her in it!
She paused. On second thought, perhaps that last thought was contradictory. She shook her head to clear it as Zuko once again tried to defend himself.
"It's just that your clothing doesn't make sense! Yes, you look great in the outfit, but it's completely illogical!"
"How is my outfit illogical Zuko? It allows me to move and fight in it while also keeping me cool in all the hot weather you have here." The waterbender defended herself.
He sighed. "Katara, try to understand that here in the Fire Nation clothing tells a story. For example, my own clothing tells any who sees me that I am a rich lord of a very important family and my hair identifies both my standing in the family as well as which family I belong to. Various parts of my outfit also identify me as Fire Lord of course."
She balked. Clothing signified something? Something besides warrior status or what the weather was like that day? That didn't happen anywhere else!
She paused for a moment to think before she started making accusations against Zuko. In the North Pole there was no need to use clothing to identify one's status; everyone knew everyone. The only status sign clothing had was warrior status and that was only because warriors needed clothing that let one move around more. And she never really stayed long enough in the North Pole to find out if there was a message her clothing sent to people there. As for the Earth Kingdom, well, if there was anything clothing told people she would never know because she always wore either her Water Tribe outfit or whatever Tough or the Earth King told her to wear. So when it came to the Fire Nation, a place she stayed for longer stretches of time and wore clothing in that was not Water Tribe or sanctioned by a local…
She frowned to herself as she realized that, at the end of the day, she had no idea what message her outfits were telling people.
"Tell me." She demanded as she turned to face her friend. "Tell me what my clothing tells others."
Zuko didn't even hesitate and his tone of voice and facial expression let her know that he had probably wanted to talk to her for a while about this but never got up the nerve to do so. Until now.
"You're a friend of the Fire Lord and therefore rich but you never wear jewelry of any value. You always wear your hair in this loose braid look which is contradictory because loose hair says married and tightly bound or braided hair says open to commitment. Add in that you are very open about your committed relationship to Aang and its' confounding. Then there is your clothing itself; ignoring the style for the moment, light clothing does not say 'warm weather today' in the Fire Nation. Instead, it says 'I'm an unskilled bender that cannot regulate my own body temperature'. You're a master waterbender but your outfit say you're barely a beginner! Then there is color of your outfit; only the royal family and royal attendants or guard wear that much red; you're obviously not related to me so you must be a servant but you're far too casual with the way you talk to me to be of such a station. Then there is the loose fabric of the bottom half of your outfit which states that you're open to having a relationship with someone at this time but, again, you're openly with Aang. The cut of your top says that you've been banished from the palace for some reason yet you freely walk the grounds. And on top of all of that, you wear a choker necklace which says that you have a medical condition that is semi-life threatening based on its' cut."
The two friends sat in silence for some time before Katara broke the silence.
"So… would Mai be able to help me pick out a new outfit? Something that wouldn't confuse everyone around me to the point where they can't even look in my direction?"
"Yes, in fact, she was heading to the tailors later today. Maybe you could accompany her?"