The Calling

B

"URN"

- Were you able to get a read on Korra yet?" "No, but once we're further out, I'll be able to hone in on her spiritual energy. We should be able to find her within a few days.

"The Calling" is the fourth episode of Book Four: Balance of The Legend of Korra and the 43rd of the overall series. It was released online on Nick.com on October 24, 2014.

Overview
''Tenzin asks his children to travel from Air Temple Island to look for Korra, as he is needed in Republic City to deal with the "Kuvira issue". Surprisingly, Jinora has a difficult time locating Korra's spiritual energy, and the lack of progress causes tensions to run high between the siblings. After befriending a couple of soldiers after being captured, Ikki is saved by Meelo and Jinora and they head to the swamp. Meanwhile, Korra is still having difficulty facing her past, and Toph takes her to the banyan-grove tree. There, Korra is able to locate the airbenders, who had been pulled into the swamp by vines. They reunite, and in Toph's home, Korra is finally able to remove the remaining mercury from her body and access the Avatar State.''

Synopsis
On Air Temple Island, Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo are preparing to travel to find Avatar Korra. Pema and Tenzin are watching Meelo and Ikki load up Pepper, their flying bison, with bags. Pema expresses worry over her children being unaccompanied; Tenzin stresses that President Raiko has asked him to remain in the city to help sort out the problem with Kuvira. Ikki appears in front of them, trying to assure her mother that they would be fine, considering Aang was around their age when he traveled over the world. Pema seems placated, though she states that she is glad the children will not starve out there. Meelo becomes upset, telling her that they do not need her food, though she manages to calm him down by telling him she made his favorite sweet buns with happy faces. He expresses his disappointment when it is found to be smudged, though Pema just quips that sometimes things get smudged in the wild.

They leave soon afterward, with Tenzin asking Jinora if she had been able to sense Korra. Jinora replies with a negative, though she is confident that the further they go out, the easier it will be to find the Avatar.



The first place they stop is a temple surrounded by numerous and varying spirits. There is a small town located nearby that Ikki and Meelo go to visit after Jinora sends them away, stating she cannot meditate while they are harassing her. The town is one of many that have pledged their allegiance to Kuvira, and the people seem to have no idea where the Avatar is, and the duo leave disheartened.

They leave the town shortly afterward, traveling west into the Earth Kingdom and asking the citizens if they have seen or know the whereabouts of Korra. No one has any idea, some even questioning whether they still have an Avatar at all.

In one town, Meelo approaches a girl selling flowers, asking if he can trust her with his "secret mission" to find the Avatar. She has not, and Meelo attempts to flirt with her. He is successful until Ikki shows up, teasing him about his "girlfriend". The girl, Tuyen, hands him a flower and walks away, wishing him luck. Ikki states that Jinora was looking for him because it is time to move onto the next town, and he reacts with anger, annoyed at her for "scaring away the love of [his] life".

The three airbenders move on to a seaport. Meelo is walking by when he suddenly freezes, pointing in another direction and calling out that he has found Korra. His sisters join him, and are extremely disappointed to find out that he was talking about a photograph of the Avatar, and not the Avatar herself. The fishmonger who owns the picture tells the trio that he last saw the Avatar six months prior, though he has not idea where she has traveled since. Meelo blames Ikki telling her that it was all her fault because she was not doing anything, telling her to start pulling her own weight. He repeated the sentiment to Jinora before storming off.

At the Foggy Swamp, Korra goes over to Toph, asking her what the plan for that day was. Toph, who was whistling while laying down, responds by telling her that she was looking at it. Korra reminds her that they did not do anything the day before or the day before that, she sits down, a little disappointed until she asks Toph excitedly to tell her how she taught Aang earthbending. Toph responded that there was not much to tell, saying that she threw some rocks at the avatar, he got all whiny, and Sokka fell in a hole. Korra once again looked disappointed, commenting that she thought that there would be more to it than that. She then asks Toph to tell her about when she and the rest of the former Team Avatar defeated the Fire Lord, saying that it must have been epic. Toph sarcastically exclaims that it was indeed epic, saying that it was hot, she was on a blimp, and that she thought a giant turtle showed up. Korra told her that she was terrible at telling stories to which Toph responded quickly by saying that she was terrible at listening to them. Korra sighs and begins tapping her foot until Toph earthbends a small platform blocking her from doing so, telling her to stop making all the racket. She then sent her to get some mushrooms, telling her which path to follow, and also requesting that she gets the slimy ones as they where the tastiest.

Meanwhile, the three airbenders move to another location. There, while Jinora was meditating, Ikki asks Meelo where was the food their mother had given to them and he answers that he had thrown it in the river. Ikki angrily tells him that food supposed to last them for two weeks. Jinora interrupts them asking to keep it down so that she could meditate and Meelo agrees with her. telling Ikki to keep it down. Ikki repeats that Meelo had thrown away their food, but Meelo says that from now on, they would hunt for their meals, but Ikki reminds him they were vegetarians and they did not hunt for their food. Meelo ignores them saying that Poki and he would go find some crumb and Ikki screams loud and leaves. She walks imitating her siblings' voices. She airbends at some greens and scares a small sugar glider which was between those greens and holding some food. It throws its food and runs away climbing a tree. Ikki picks the food and follows it saying that it forgot its breakfast. She hits at a tree and falls down. The animal returns and licks the food which is spread at Ikki's face, meaning their friendship. Suddenly, two outpost soldiers from the Earth Empire appear telling Ikki he was trespassing and they are after her. The first soldier attacks Ikki, but she is able to avoid his attacks, but eventually she is caught.

The two outpost soldiers take Ikki to their house and tie her up. They ask her what she was doing in the Earth Empire and if she was a spy. She explained them that she had been traveling with her brother and sister for their first big mission and that her dad, Tenzin, counted on them and he would be really disappointed, if they did not find the Avatar. The first soldier takes the second one to talk privately in the other corner of the house. He explains him who was that girl and what he was doing there. He comes up with the idea to capture the three children and bring them to Kuvira in order to take a big promotion and get out of that "dump". The second one agrees and they return to Ikki. They apologize and ask her politely where was their campsite. Ikki wonders why they wanted to know and they tell her that they wanted the family get back together. They suggest everybody to sit down and have some macaroons. Ikki asks where they had got them and they answer they had found a whole sack of food down by the river with a loving note written by Pema. Ikki says her mom had written the note and that sack was theirs. The first solider interrupts them and asks Ikki where was her siblings. She answers that she did not care where they were and that she did not want to see them, but instead, she would rather hang out with them.

Back in the Foggy Swamp, Korra, while she is walking in the forest, visions Amon, when he took her bending, then Unalaq when he removed Raava from her spirit and finally Zaheer and Red Lotus, when they poisoned her. Her visions make her fall down.

Back to the young airbenders, while Jinora is meditating, Meelo and Poki return and Meelo holds a sack and with the other hand his stomach. Jinora asks him if he was ok and Meelo tells her that he was totally fine. He continues saying they had found some berries. Then Poki throws up and Meelo "joins" him. Jinora figures out the berries were bad, but Meelo disagrees, adding that he had eaten so many of them because they were delicious. She ignores him, asking if he had seen Ikki when he was picking his poisonous berries, but Meelo answers negative. He asks her if she had run, and adds that mission was gain worse by the day. She reminds him it was not only his mission,but something they should do it as a family.

At the soldiers' house, Ikki tells the soldiers it seemed so lonely out there and asks where everybody had been. The first soldier denies to answer, but the second one, explains that she was upset because Kuvira had taken all the troops to Zaofu and they had to stay there. The first soldier adds that the whole empire would be united and he was sure a huge party would be afterwards. Ikki agrees, saying it was hard to be left and that she knew exactly what they were going through, because her brother and sister treat her in a similar way. She brings as an example the fact that they do not let her help find the Avatar. The second soldier agrees with her and he suggests to help her. He shows her map asking her where they had looked for. She explains that they had been traveling down the west coast and that the only lead they had was a guy who said he had seen her six months ago. The first soldier tells her that there were troops everywhere and if anyone had seen her, it would be reported. She asks about the Swamp and he tells her that no one goes there. The second soldier says Ikki she was good-hearted and a valuable member of the team and then, he is going to untie her. Suddenly, Meelo breaks the house's door and him and Jinora attack the two soldiers, who bang on the wall and fall and lose their senses. Meelo tells Ikki she was welcomed, but she asks them why they had done it. Jinora answers they were saving her and tells them to go, but Ikki tells her she had everything under control. She had found their food and had an idea where Korra was. Jinora insists they should go, but Ikki tells her she had to do something first. She thanks the two soldiers for the conversation and leaves them two sweet buns on their knees.

At the Foggy Swamp, Toph finds Korra sitting alone and asks her if she had got her dinner. Korra answers negative, adding that the Swamp had done crazy things to her mind. She ends saying she had had visions of all the times her enemies had hurt her. Toph says she thought something that would happened and Korra asks her if she wanted her to see those visions, adding she was a twisted old lady. Toph explains that she knew she wanted to get better, like the Swamp, which could send you out of balance and teach you what you need to learn if you are open to listening. She continues asking Korra why did she think she saw her past enemies Korra tells her that she saw them because they had made her and a lot of other people suffer. Toph figures out she was carrying her former enemies, the same way she was carrying that metal poison. She continues asking Korra if she had ever considered she could learn from them. She continues saying that Amon wanted equality for all, Unalaq had brought back the spirits and Zaheer believed in freedom, but the problem was that those guys were out of balance and took their ideologies too far. Korra wonders why they kept hunting her and Toph tells her that she needed to face her fears. Korra agrees but asks how she was supposed to move on. Toph says that those Avatars needed a lot of handling and asks her to follow her to the banyan-grove tree.

Credits
Written by:
 * Katie Mattila

Directed by:
 * Colin Heck

Starring:
 * Janet Varney - Korra
 * J. K. Simmons - Tenzin
 * Kiernan Shipka - Jinora
 * Darcy Rose Byrnes - Ikki
 * Logan Wells - Meelo
 * Jeff Bennett
 * Radio broadcaster
 * Fishmonger
 * Soldier #2
 * Seedy Guy

Also starring:
 * Maria Bamford
 * Pema
 * Elderly woman
 * Philece Sampler - Toph
 * Caitlin Carmichael - Tuyen
 * Greg Baldwin - Soldier #1
 * Dee Bradley Baker
 * Poki
 * Pepper
 * Animal gaggle

Series continuity

 * The picture of Korra the fishmonger took in "Korra Alone" is seen alongside Aang's picture in his shop.
 * Korra found Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo via the banyan-grove tree in the same way Aang found Appa and Momo in "The Swamp".
 * Toph recalls the events of "Bitter Work", "Sozin's Comet, Part 3: Into the Inferno", and "Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang".

Character revelations

 * Kuvira and her troops are headed toward Zaofu, with the intention of conquering it.
 * Korra is able to enter the Avatar State again after bending out the residual mercury in her body.
 * Meelo is a skilled artist, able to make detailed and lifelike portraits of people, such as Korra.

Goofs

 * While Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo embrace Korra, the membranes of their wingsuits are still deployed, but when they pull back, the wings are folded against their bodies.

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