A/N: So... FINALLY this is chapter four! A real big SORRY for the delay once again... such a certain thing called REAL LIFE is to blame for it I guess ;). Thanks a lot, xxTigerAvatarxx, for beta-ing my funny English ;) though having job interviews and exams and I-dunno-what :)!

Well... alright, ladies and gentlemen... this is gonna be fun :)! Or least FOR ME it was! I have to admit, I really enjoyed making fun of Zuko and writing that dialogue... hehehe. ;)

So... fasten your seatbelts and get ready for take-off everyone! :o)

-4-

WALKING IN THE AIR

Zuko was jerked out of his bleak thoughts when he heard Sureen's alarmed voice. As he glanced at his left foot and his upper body he could hardly hide his own dismay. What shocked him most was the steadily growing blood stain on his shirt… he had known before that there must have been some kind of injury – a wound caused by a cut or something – as he could feel the pain with every breath… but he had no idea that it was that bad! But anyway…

"Oh well… that's nothing!" By all means he wanted to prove her wrong… and himself as well… he wasn't the pushover she surely thought he was! Thus he jumped to his feet determinedly… just in order to slump back to the ground only a few seconds later due to the pain that flashed through his body. He had to dig his fingers deep into the grass and clench his teeth to be able to fight against it and to stay conscious.

Sureen denied herself any comment, instead she pondered feverishly on what to do now. No... she knew what to do, as there was only this one option now. She just didn't know... if she could convince her to show up right now. This wide open meadow with a burning village right next to it was not exactly what the albatross-horse would consider as a safe place. Furthermore, Sureen was not even alone. This could get tricky. But she had to try.
Sera, girl... I know you're around... I know you don't like that place... but please come over. I know you can see me. Take your time, I have to prepare some things first... no need to hurry girl. But please come over, I need you! She sent out her thoughts, knowing they would be heard.
Afterwards, she concentrated her attention back on Zuko.

"Catch your breath, Prince Zuko. I think I've got an idea. But I'm not quite sure if it'll work... but I hope so... we'll see. But first things first. Hopefully, I can find our luggage again... I mean... hopefully, our luggage is still existing! 'Cause otherwise the medicine I had with me is no longer existing either. So let's see... I won't be long!"

With these words Sureen turned her back on Zuko who was still convulsing in pain. She knew it was better to give him the opportunity to be alone and to have no one watching him right now.
Luckily, their luggage was still there, but it was scattered all over the place. It took her a while to collect their sleeping bags, their stocks of food, and all the other stuff they had with them. After a while, Sureen also found the wooden medicine box - fortunately still locked and undamaged. Finally, she returned to Zuko with all their luggage.

"Ok, so much for that! But now I need to know – where did you get the water from that you brought this morning? I mean… that means there must be a river… somewhere… around here, right!?"

"Um… yes… there's a river…" the Prince replied in a strained voice while he was looking around carefully, trying to move nothing else but his head, "… right over there… behind that… row of trees."

"Ok then, that's not too far actually. I think we'll make it. You need clean water to cool your burned foot and to clean your injuries. While you're doing so I'll be going back once again to get our luggage. Yes. But one step at a time."

"Wait, what…?!" before the Prince could finish the sentence, Sureen crouched down on his left, put her right arm around his waist and put his left arm around her neck.

"No questions, just listen. Draw up your knees now, shift all your weight to your right and then only use your right foot to push off the ground… on three – one… two… THREE!" Deliberately she left him with no other option but to follow her instructions. She arose and pulled him up at the same time.
For a moment Zuko was all of a dither… although he had no clue about Sureen's "idea" and all that stuff she was talking, he was sort of relieved that she acted that resolutely now. Even before he knew what was happening, he was on his feet again. Although... that also meant that the earlier pain returned to him almost immediately, and took his breath away. Sureen kept absolutely still until she felt he was better again.

"Relax. It's gonna ease in a sec. And the river's just over there!"
All out of breath, they finally reached the stream and settled on the ground near the bank.

"I think you'll need THIS now…" she unsheathed her knife, "… to get rid of your boot… or rather what remained of it. After that, you have to clean those burns thoroughly with lots of water and cool your foot in the river. Don't take it out of the water 'till it feels like it's freezing, alright?! Meanwhile, I'm going to run and get our luggage. I'll be right back."
Zuko nodded and took Sureen's knife. How in the world could somebody just talk that much all the time without interruption!? But at least that kept his mind busy and spared him from thinking about other things. He wondered if she did that on purpose. But how could she? As it would require that she knew... a lot... and how could she know about those things? Impossible.
The Prince gazed after her as she walked away. He waited until she was a fair way off before he began to, hesitatingly, slit his boot.

-x-x-x-

"Well… that's it! Or at least that's all I can do right now…" Sureen stepped back to scrutinize the bandage she had just applied to Zuko's upper body, "…but we can't leave it like that for a long time. I have to remove that shard from your ribcage as soon as possible and make sure to staunch the bleeding afterwards. To do so I need several things... such as a fire. So I definitely won't be able to do anything until we've reached our sleeping accommodation for tonight."

"You think you're funny, do you?! It's quite obvious that we won't get ANYWHERE… with me… like this!" with a mixture of huff and despair he stared at his left foot.

"No, I'm sure we will...!"

"Oh stop kidding me!"

"And YOU maybe just stop talking now and wait a sec, OK… 'cause otherwise she'll NEVER come out!"

'She?' the Prince thought confusedly but decided to better be quiet now.

In the meantime, Sureen scanned both banks of the river – "Alright girl, I know you're around... so come here now!" After a moment's hesitation they heard a rustling in the trees on the opposite riverbank and a second later a graceful black horse emerged… no… a black WINGED horse! Zuko was stunned. Never before he had seen an albatross-horse… nevertheless a BLACK one!

"Agni… what's… THAT?"

"Oh well… First, I would say this is your means of transport for today… and, second, it's quite obviously an albatross-horse. So… may I introduce you to Sera!"

The albatross-horse spread its wings, took a light-footed leap over the river and landed next to the shocked Fire Nation Prince who tried his best to back away but could hardly made any headway because of his foot. Sureen came over to welcome her friend and put herself right in between the albatross-horse and Zuko, as it was easy for her to see that sitting so close to the creature made him feel really uncomfortable.

Although Sera hadn't shown up for quite a while, Sureen had felt her presence the entire time… as always… but, nevertheless, she was overjoyed to have "her" albatross-horse in the flesh again. "Hey girl, there you are. How are you doing? You've already noticed our visitor right? But don't be afraid... he won't capture you and he won't bite..." Sureen lowered her voice, "... it's more like we'll have to show him that YOU won't bite HIM. So if you don't mind,..." the girl didn't need any words to let Sera know that she wanted her to kneel down.

Sureen turned back to Zuko: "Well, don't be too impressed... I mean... after all she's just my little pony you know."Upon saying that, the girl heard a indignant snort close behind her. "What?" She looked over to the albatross-horse that was now lying right next to them. "... Not my little pony? My BIG pony, then?! Alright... you're a big pony!" She smiled and tickled Sera's forehead.

Zuko looked at them in amazement. But only a moment later the reluctant look came back to his eyes – "Oh c'mon… you're NOT serious about that, are you?! You don't honestly expect me to ride that... that THING, do you?" Sera gave a protesting snort, fair in the face of the offensive stranger before her.

Sureen shrugged her shoulders. "Well... if you prefer walking for the rest of the day... or if you can see any other alternatives...!" She looked around, pretending to scan their surroundings. While doing so, Zuko's bag filled with apples caught her eye and gave her an idea. Quickly she went over to their luggage and came back with an apple. "But I know that the THING can surely get appeased with THIS…" with a grin she showed him the apple. "You have to stretch out your hand… like this… and then place the apple at... the… top… SERA!" Sureen tried to avoid Sera's nose that had already noticed the apple and chased after it now. "Here you are!" She thrusted the apple into his hand – like Zuko had just done to her this morning.

The Prince just stared at the apple… then at Sureen… and again at the apple… and then at Sera. With his arm completely stretched out, he finally presented her the apple. Meanwhile, Sureen had to choke back her laughter, as she knew that her albatross-horse was the most harmless creature in the world. Sera, herself, just didn't care about all those things. Indifferently, she took the apple with her teeth in a very gentle way and then smacked her lips contentedly when the apple was no more… while Zuko seemed to be really glad that he was still alive and Sureen was struggling with a laughing fit.

But she tried to calm down again as quickly as possible – before Zuko became aware of her making fun of him. "Alright then… dusk is already falling now and we should really try to find an accommodation for tonight before it's completely dark. So, Prince Zuko, would you please...!" With her head she pointed at Sera.

"Um... will she... FLY?!" The Prince asked carefully.

Sureen quirked an eyebrow - he wasn't seriously asking that, was he?! "No. She's going to dig a tunnel into the ground and burrow us to safety..." amusedly, Sureen noticed the shocked expression on Zuko's face. "In fact, she's a bewitched mole pony you know. The wings are just for show...! C'mon, Zuko... of course she'll fly."

"STOP MAKIN' FUN OF ME! This creature also has LEGS, you know!" The Prince replied, hotly.

"Um... yes. Well spotted. But have you ever seen a bird walking a long distance just because it has LEGS?! Zuko... I don't want to treat you like some common idiot. It's just... flying is her natural way of getting from one place to another. And it's much less exhausting for her than walking... 'specially now that she has to carry the both of us and our luggage as well. Besides that, she's much faster when she flies!"

Yes. That's EXACTLY the problem. Zuko sighed. But it seemed as though there really was no other possibility. He threw one last skeptical glance at the black albatross-horse which lay beside him, and finally gave in to his reluctant hesitation. With an uneasy feeling, he finally mounted its back and waited for Sureen to take a seat behind him.

As the winged horse jumped on its feet, full of verve, the Prince tensed up. He realized that he was not in control of the whole situation… not at all. Besides that, Sera's sudden movement made him groan in agony, as he could feel that shard boring into his ribcage. He knew he was injured quite badly. He felt himself constantly getting weaker due to the loss of blood and had no idea long he would still be capable of sitting up straight. And losing this capability would be tantamount to just slipping off this creature's back... while they were miles above the ground! And, on top of that, the sun was just setting – which meant that even the source of his firebending power would be disappearing shortly. Thus he was at the mercy of some weird animal he hadn't even seen before! He couldn't even describe how much he hated that feeling.
But, as there were no other options and Zuko didn't really want to embarrass himself any further, he held his tongue and adjusted his position on the creatures back. The Prince of the Fire Nation is afraid of riding an albatross-horse. Sure. How would THAT come across?! Totally ridiculous!
It appeared there was absolutely no possibility of getting out of this.

"Relax. You won't fall off. Sera will take care of you... and I will do so as well. You're safe." Sureen bent a little forward to make sure Zuko could hear her words that were hardly above a whisper. His eyes opened wide and his heart missed a beat - What the...!? HOW can she know what I've just... ?!

Sureen hastened to continue. "I'm sorry for making jokes about this whole situation. I'm aware of the fact that a black albatross-horse might seem quite… impressive if someone has never seen such an animal before. But honestly, Sera's the most reliable soul in the whole world. She won't hurt you. I promise." She offered him a small smile. "Alright then… ready? Hold on tight!"

Zuko wasn't given the time to ask himself any further questions about what Sureen had just revealed. Instead he did as he was told – just in time, as suddenly the winged horse started moving forward… without any visible -If any, at all!- instructions by Sureen. He swallowed hard. He tried to believe what this woman had just told him... but trusting others was so difficult for him and he just couldn't stop worrying. In the meantime, Sera broke into a light-footed galopp, crossing the meadow… before she finally spread her wings and soared into the air!

The Prince couldn't help but closing his eyes and holding his breath.
At the same moment, he felt Sureen putting her arm around him. "You're safe, no worries."

-x-x-x-

Sureen had never seen her albatross-horse fly so carefully. The way Sera was floating through the air was so soft and gentle and her wings were moving in such a constant and calm rhythm that her back was hardly moving at all - even though, in reality, they were rushing through the night sky as fast as lightning. The albatross-horse seemed to be fully aware of the vulnerable load it was carrying.
Sureen glanced down. She saw the mountains below her feet in the moonlight as they flew by them, causing their snow-laden tips to dissolve into a white blur. From this distance the world looked so peaceful - it was hard to believe that, in fact, there was a war going on down there. She felt the airstream in her face and closed her eyes.

THIS was her definition of freedom! No matter how war-torn the world down below would ever be - it was a different world up here. It was the only place where she really was at peace with herself.

Unfortunately, her companion didn't appear to share that feeling. She noticed Zuko's harried breathing and his racing heart... and the way he clung to Sera's mane. So what else could she do for him... than keeping him busy by telling him... just something, anything, whatever...!?
So she decided to tell him Sera's story, as that was the only thing that came to her mind right now.

"You know, it's actually quite astonishing that she decided to stay with me... Sera, I mean...and that we became such good friends. You certainly wouldn't have expected that if you had seen the first time we both met. Or, actually, it was more like my face came close to meeting her teeth. I was such a curious child and so I was dying to see the little albatross-horse filly everyone was talking about. It had been captured by our warriors after they had found it lying next to its dead mother. So they brought it home to our village, where they locked it in a stable… as they didn't know what else to do with that little guy. But that filly was anything but cute at the beginning and we were anything but friends.

"One day, after secretly sneaking over to her stable - since the children were forbidden to go anywhere near her - I unsuspectingly put my head over the wooden door but then pulled back only a second later to save my nose from Sera's teeth. Damn, that was so scary... my knees where shaking and my heart was in my boots after that. But nevertheless... something kept me staying in front of her barn. I wanted to find out what was wrong with that little colt and why it was so angry.

"After that day, I spent almost every evening sitting on the floor right in front of her stable, trying to find out what was going on in her mind. Finally, I guess I actually began saw through her. I realized that she could never be happy locked inside that dark barn without being able to fly around or even move. And she missed her mom. From her point of view, it must have seemed like my people had taken away everything she needed the most – her mother and her freedom. That was why she was that aggressive towards everyone."

Upon saying this, the girl could feel a deep-drawn sigh escaping Zuko's lungs. Sureen noticed an uncomfortable 'Something'... a distant memory, like a lugubrious shadow, seemed to rise inside him. It was hard to grasp. Hurriedly, she continued.

"And so, I decided to set her free... although I knew I'd miss her a lot. You know, in the meantime we had become quite good friends as we got to know each other a little better. But I knew she just couldn't live like that any longer. Finding an opportunity when no one else was around wasn't a big deal and so I just tiptoed to her stable one night and opened the door. I never thought that watching her spread her wings and finally fly away would be so difficult. But at the same time it felt relieving to know that she finally had her freedom back. And I didn't have to miss her for very long… as she came back on her own a few days later! She only showed up when I was on my own – as she wanted to make sure that she would never ever get capt..ured..."

Suddenly, Sureen felt the tension in Zuko's body disappear. She watched the fingers, which had tangled themselves in Sera's mane, begin to relax and slip down the mare's neck. He had either fallen asleep or had lost consciousness. Oh dear, I knew I would talk you into the ground sooner or later... and now I did that even though the ground is miles away. Great.

Sureen sighed and took hold of his lifeless body. Just like she had told him when they had left the river, she would not let him fall off. After sitting in silence for a few minutes, she realized with relief that Sera was preparing for landing – the mountains beneath her feet growing closer and closer.

"Prince Zuko!" Sureen whispered urgently in his ear. When she felt no reaction to that, she grabbed him by his shoulders and shook them carefully. "Zuko! I'm sorry for waking you, but I need your attention now. We're landing! Pull yourself together just for a few minutes alright? I need you to be awake for this!"

"Hhmm..." Slowly, the Prince regained consciousness. It took him a while to realize where he was and what Sureen had just told him. "... Landing? But where... are we?"

"Seems like Sera has found a suitable place for us. Can you see that mountain with that… seems like a cave or an overhanging rock or something? I think THAT's our accommodation!" But he couldn't see it. He could hardly see anything. His vision was blurred and he tried hard not to pass out again. But at least he would soon be back on firm ground... imagining that was enough to keep him awake.

Finally, they landed right in front of the cave. Sureen jumped off of Sera and immediately assisted her companion with dismounting the albatross-horse. A moment later, he stood next to her, his face contorted with pain. Just in time, Sureen put her arm around his waist as his legs buckled beneath him.

With her free hand, the girl reached for her albatross-horse and tickled its forehead once again. "My big pony... well done! You did such a good job today! You're such a good girl! Now go and get some well-deserved sleep. Good night honey-bunny." She watched Sera disappearing between the trees before she finally turned her head to Zuko. "And you also did such a good job! From now on I will no longer bother you with any weird unknown flying creatures alright?"

She wasn't sure if he was entirely cognitive of the fact that she was even speaking. His eyes appeared to be glazed over and the Prince looked about ready to collapse at any moment. Carefully she pressed her palm on his forehead. Wow... that temperature doesn't feel healthy. Even for a firebender that's way too hot. It's about time that I'll get this damn shard out. Sorry dear... I fear there's still something lying ahead of you today. But we have to remove this stupid shard-thing, I'm so sorry...!

We're walking in the air
We're floating in the moonlit sky
The people far below are sleeping as we fly

I'm holding very tight
I'm riding in the midnight blue
I'm finding I can fly so high above with you

Far across the wold
The villages go by like trees
The rivers and the hills, the forests and the streams

Children gaze open mouth, taken by surprise
Nobody down below believes their eyes

We're surfing in the air
We're swimming in the frozen sky
We're drifting over icy mountains floating by

[NIGHTWISH - WALKING IN THE AIR]

LINK TO THIS SONG:
w w w . youtube . c o m . watch?v = OftPwnCwYTc
[copy+paste - remove blanks - enter :)!]

-x-x-x-

A/N: And as always - reviews are love! You'll get an apple as a reward! :D (Umm... no... I mean... only think of FRUIT please. Not a Mac or something *lol*...)

PS: In the original version of this chapter, Sera was a black Pegasus. Considering Magnusrae's review, my Pegasus has just become an "albatross-horse". :)