trans Zuko being really anxious about the gaang finding out because in the fire nation being trans is considered shameful / not a real thing
but when they do find out Sokka is like “oh same dude, the midwife said i was a girl when i was born but by the time i was 3 it was clear i wasn’t one, it’s no big deal in the southern water tribe”
Katara explains how water is a flexible element, always changing and becoming something new (from liquid to ice to steam and back again, from a river to a sea or the clouds overhead) and that’s why water tribe folks see nothing wrong in people turning out to be a different gender than originally assumed — like water, people can change and surprise and be what they want to be.
Aang says air nomads were the same, he had plenty of friends who turned out to be a different gender or multiple genders or even no gender at all
“and hey, my old friend Kuzon was like you, and he was fire nation,” Aang mentions, and it’s a shock to Zuko’s heart — a fire nation kid a century ago could be trans and it wasn’t a problem?? when had his people’s viewpoint changed??
he’s excited to learn he isn’t alone, relieved that his new friends treat him like normal, but saddened that his nation has grown to be so xenophobic and he vows to change that.
years later when he’s the firelord and finally gains his people’s love, he becomes open about being trans, so that anyone who is like him can see that it’s no dishonor to be trans, that you can live a happy and fulfilling life. and slowly his people return to their past worldview that gender is as mysterious as flame, that its source comes from inside a person who can choose how they share it outwardly. and zuko regards it as one of his greatest accomplishments.
