Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

A Bear of a Ball

 Applying for a business license in Ba Sing Sei has been far more headache inducing than Zuko ever thought possible. A few hours before the Earth King's ball, he finds himself playing tag along with Katara, Iroh and Yue going around the bazaars of the upper ring. Thankfully getting a regal set of robes tailored was far easier than he had expected. Yue and Katara had a hand in picking out the outfit for him to wear to the event. The silk robes that were tailored for him are brown with gold trim accents across the chest and down his right side. The set of robes comes with a yukata worn beneath it that is a reddish brown color with black accents on the legs and the wrists of the sleeves. Despite the fact he's no stranger to wearing regal attire, the dress wear selected for him makes him feel slightly uncomfortable.

"It says here it's being held at a gala just outside the palace itself... and it's celebrating his pet bear? Is it a platypus bear or skunk bear?" Yue says as she reads through the invitation, the trio making their way through the busy shopping district. Behind her Zuko is paying more attention to Momo flying through the air than to anything that Yue is saying. "Oh, and also it says you can bring a plus one."

"A plus one?" Katara echoes before noticing Zuko not paying attention. "Lee?"

"What?" Zuko asks, as Momo flies face first into a hanging sign trying to catch a bug.

"You haven't been paying attention have you?" Yue asks as she walks over and scoops up Momo's crumpled form on the ground. "And you need to look where you're flying." She scolds the lemur. "I said you can bring another person to the event."

"Oh... well I think we should talk with the others first about that... either of you two want to go?" He asks, though he isn't exactly enthused about bumping elbows with nobles of the earth kingdom. If they're anything like the ones back in the firenation, tonight is going to be dreadful in his opinion.

"I probably should stay back and make sure Sokka and Aang don't get themselves into trouble. I know Iroh is probably gonna get them to work at his tea shop." Katara says, "And Toph will definitely say no."

"I'd like to go, plus I'm still the princess of the northern watertribe so it's not like they'll think you're dragging a peasant to such an event." Katara perks up when she hears this then scowls at Yue.

"Katara, every person in our team is nobility of some sort. Uncle and I are both princes, you and Sokka are technically the prince and princess of the southern watertribe, there's Yue, then Toph who's the heiress to literal trade empire and the best earthbender on the planet and lastly, Aang who's the de facto Airbending grand master." Zuko replies.

"You say that but when your "palace" is a bare dome of ice in the middle of a blizzard it certainly doesn't feel like being a noble." Katara complains as they get to the entrance to their house. "Do you have anything fancy for the ball?" She asks Yue.

"No actually, nothing I'd be comfortable in at least. I think we might need to go get me fitted for something too." She says with a slight laugh.

"Yeah I'm not going all the way back to the tailors just to sit around watching you get jabbed with needles for an hour like I did. I'm gonna go take a nap before we have to go over there." Zuko says before opening the door and heading inside. He pauses before turning to them and dropping a coin purse into Yue's hand. "Go nuts." He says causing the two to run off back towards the tailors.

"Anything interesting downtown?" Sokka asks as Zuko sets down his robes before sitting down on the floor in front of the small table in the center of the room.

"Aside from a tailor who jabbed me with needles for an hour, no. There's a couple restaurants and a black smith but that's about it." Noticing that there's a pot of tea on the table, he pours himself some. "Apparently the invitation I got also says I can bring a plus one." He continues, using his firebending to heat the small kettle before pouring its contents into a cup.