Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

Visions In The Whispering Woods..

Zuko suddenly snaps awake when he hears screaming in the middle of the night. He tries to get to his feet but the pain in his head hasn't gone down all that much, despite Katara's healing. Trying to see through the darkness, he can't find the others that were sleeping around where he was. The fire had been snuffed out and the only visible light is the dull twinkling stars eons away in the heavens. Painfully he gets up holding his hand to the side of his head, "Fuck." He curses, before extending his right hand and opening a large flame in his hand to create light. Slowly he begins walking around the camp, the surroundings are inside of an old fallen tree but the floor is mud almost stone like. Around him he can see drag marks through the mud, marks where someone had dragged their fingers along the ground. There's a deep trench along one of the drag markings. He crouches down and inspects the two lines dragged almost perfectly straight into the darkness. "Someone grabbed my swords when they were taken." He says before looking at the width of the drag marks. "Probably Uncle got grabbed here... by what though?" he narrates to himself before moving his eyes to look towards the other set of drag marks.

The moment his eyes move to the side, more pain radiates through his skull causing him to groan. "Damnit." He growls as he clutches the side of his head harder. His vision blurs slightly before he falls down to a knee. The fire in his hand gets snuffed out as he falls to a knee. "I'm in no condition to do this." He says before laying flat on his back in the dirt and mud. Feeling his water pouch on his side, he reaches down and grabs the small bag. "I hope I don't regret this." He says to himself before opening the pouch and pulling a small amount of water out of it. A few ounces at most, less than a tenth of the liquid that is in the bag. The water coats the palm of his hand and laps just around the side of his fingers. He puts his hand to the side of his head where Katara had been healing him. Her healing had done a significant job to relieve the pain from the initial impact, and had stopped the bleeding but the migraine and dull throbbing in the side of his head still persisted. He presses his hand to the tender skin around the wound before the water glows a bright white, in the distance he sees the reflection of eyes all around him. The water is absorbed into his skin, and the effects are immediate, the pain is gone almost the moment the light fades from the water.

After reattaching the pouch of water to his belt, he gets back up and throws a flame onto the dying fire. With life returned to it he can see the drag marks more clearly, and without the throbbing in his head, he can think. He examines the drag markings and notices something odd about the markings. Long cylindrical tube looking marks are around where the sleeping bags were. As he crouches down he notices something about these tracks along the dirt. "Looks like it's been pushed towards them not... away." He says as he turns his attention to the sandal his uncle had left behind. As he looks around the camp, he sees a few vines that had been cut, they leaked water into the dirt. "Vines don't move on their own..." He says to himself before seeing Aang's staff where he was dragged then finding Katara's necklace shortly after. He looks up around the tree line sensing the morning sun lift above the horizon. Deciding to go after his uncle first in case they have to fight anything big, he picks up the sandal and treks off into the swamp in the direction where his uncle was taken.

Katara...

As the muggy heat of the day began rising up through the swamps, she had been awake for hours by now. It was just before dawn before they were ambushed by something coming out of the darkness and abducted them. She only managed to get a glimpse of Zuko and he was being left alone by whatever was trying to take them. Looking up at the canopy above her she sees the sun peaking through the leaves. All around her, cypress knees, trees, mangrove trees, roots, vines, bushes and grass clog up her vision further. She at least had the idea of marking the trees with her water bending so she wouldn't get turned around on herself or at least... she thought she wouldn't. "Aang! Aang!" She calls out before pausing, looking around the trees and vines waiting for a response. "Zuko! Iroh!" She calls out again, waiting for a response but nothing comes of it.