Winding Legacies: A 'The Legend of Korra' Rewrite

Episode 4: The Calling Part 2

Korra tried her best to keep her arms out and flat as she placed one foot in front of the other along a thick vine spanning the length of a small pool Toph had chosen to relax by. It was an exercise she had taken to doing to help sharpen her coordination when she started to walk again and it was as close as she was going to get to unwinding like Toph. Melodic whistling was not a talent Korra could say she had.

"So...what's the plan for today?"

"You're looking at it."

Landing in the cool green water, Korra took a deep breath as she watched Toph fold her arms behind her head and extend her legs along the base of the tall tree she was resting against. Korra turned away and splashed through the water aimlessly with her foot, creating small whirlpools with a few steps then bending up as much mud as she could with others. "We didn't do anything yesterday," she said. "Or the day before that. I know, tell me the story of how you taught Aang how to earthbend. Maybe that will fire up some inspiration."

"I threw some rocks at him, he got all whiny, and Sokka fell in a hole." Korra frowned.

"What about the time you took down the Fire Lord? That must have been epic!"

Toph sniffed. "It was hot, I was on a blimp, and I think a giant turtle showed up. What a day."

"Okay, you're terrible at telling stories."

"If you wanted good stories, you should have stumbled your way to Kyoshi Island and sat around Sokka's fireplace for bedtime stories." Korra wrinkled her nose and though the comment struck her through the heart, the idea brought a smile to her face. She couldn't disagree with Toph there, Chief Sokka did tell a really good story.

"I guess I do need to focus more on the present than the past," Korra muttered after a while. She sank into the mossy ground next to Toph's tree as the older woman lightly scratched the side of her temple.

"Hmm, I actually think the opposite."

Turning to look at Toph, Korra tried not to let a twitch of annoyance flicker across her face. She said, "What do you mean?"

"You're obviously running from something that happened to you in the past. I think it's time to focus on that story instead of any other one." Korra didn't mean to, but her eyes involuntarily rolled. She was getting rather annoyed with people telling her that she was the cause of some of her problems. There was probably some truth to it, but that didn't mean it was any easier to hear.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because everyone I've ever known has tried to run from one thing or the other in their life, even me. It takes a hard smack at rock bottom to realize that no good comes out of turning your back on your problems. You gotta face them head-on if you want any hope of being able to move forward."

A gentle smile blew onto Korra's face like a calm breeze as she said, "You know, that's really good advice."

"Eh, must have been left over from the last person who disturbed my peace," she grumbled, though Korra could almost feel the hint of a smile along her words, like the tree behind her was giving away all the cards Toph held close to her chest. Noticing Korra's trained expression, Toph stamped her foot into the dirt ground and splashed a wave of water at the Avatar with the help of a deep rock fissure under the pool. Finally letting off a grin, Toph said, "If you really want something to do, why don't you collect some mushrooms for dinner?"

Spluttering, Korra pulled her stringy wet hair from her face and asked, "Sure, what kind?"

"The big, slimy ones, they're the tastiest. If you take the path until you see the boulder with the hole in it and then go to your left, you'll find them." Toph's hand pointed in an aimless direction that Korra only figured was the way due to the semblance of a walking path going forward. She didn't think too hard about how exactly she was going to figure out which mushrooms were slimy or not—she figured it was better not to.