Earth Kingdom

Hiranya paused. "Well, I mean... since the death of the last Avatar, many bands of travelers have formed. People who don't belong to any territory and live on their goods. Maybe your Avatar lives in one of those?"

"But how do you even plan on finding the Avatar?" she asked curiously. "Among all of the people of Ba Sing Se, let alone the entire Earth Kingdom?"

"But if they're only a child, are you sure a parent or any guardian will allow them to go with you? And how will you be able to tell? What kind of questions or trials will you put forth to decide if they really can bend multiple elements? Are you sure that whoever has the kid will even let you?"

"And what's that?" she asked, sitting down next to the girl.

By that time, Rajiv had wandered over curiously. "Wow, what are those? Can I see?"

Hiranya put a hand on her shoulder, chastising him gently. "Rajiv! You should ask more politely. The word 'please' exists, you know." She turned to Tikaani. "I'm sorry, he's just a kid, I'll teach him manners yet."

Grinning, Rajiv pulled out one toy. It was a fan, which he took a moment to wave around. A gust of air batted back at his face-- a little bit too much to be possible from a nine-year-old with a toy.

When he was bored with the fan, he dug around the bag a second time. He pulled out a sort of sparkler. Experimentally, he blew on it, wondering what that would do. To his amazement, the sparkler was lit. Hastily, Hiranya snuffed the sparks between her fingers. "Careful, you don't want to burn yourself."

Hiranya shifted uncomfortably. "M-maybe it was be unconsciously or something?"

But by then, Rajiv had pulled out his third toy. A simple game-- you had to land the dome-shaped cap onto the stick. Both were attached with a string. After a few tries, Rajiv grew mildly frustrated. And in a moment, his movements hard to discern, the rock cap was there.

"Y-yes. He's most certainly a waterbender."

And finally, Rajiv grabbed a little sealskin pouch. "There's still water in here!" he removed the cork top of it, twiddling his fingers. A little tiny snake of water slithered out, curling around his fingers.