When dueling with plastic lightsabers, always wear something protective over your thumb, ouch. Just a word of advice, now on to chapter 7 I believe, oh wait reviewer thanking time.

Sunrise19: Let's just say that Zazu does find someone to love, but it will be a while before that happens and I won't really say when since I seem to keep adding more chapters so far. So you've been whitewater rafting huh? I hope you were not as scared as I was, let's just say that's an experience I don't want to go through again for a long time. Well thanks for the review.

Nala5: Thanks for the review, where in the north do you live? I'm guessing New England somewhere, am I right? See ya.

Grifffinrose: Thanks for the review, and you too Sasha, I'm glad you both like it.

MorpheusDreamer: Now on to the next chapter of Zazu's life. I'm glad you liked how I had the goodbye speeches with his sister and grandfather. And I just wanted to make sure I could use your words since lots of people are very picky about those kinds of things. Crazy people. Thanks for the review.

Pichooi: Yes his journey has finally begun; you will see how he becomes a majordomo in about two chapters I believe. Thanks for the review.

Maran Zelde: Okay first of all this is a very stupid question but I really want to know. Are you male or female? Just wondering. Thanks for the review and congratulations on graduating from college, I'll be graduating from there in about fifty years since I have to take math even though what I plan to do in life will not involve math. Oh and my friend got the reviews but was a little annoyed by the second review you gave her, but I think she is still happy that she got one. Well I hope you like this chapter.

Well now let's begin chapter 7.

Into the great wide open

Under them skies of blue

Out in the great wide open

A rebel without a clue

Into the Great wide open-Tom Petty

It felt quite odd to leave the nest that day but it was probably because I was experiencing something that I had never before experienced in my life, and the fact that I no longer lived with my mother. I knew the weird feeling would leave soon but when that would happen I would find out eventually.

For a few hours I flew through the savanna, passing herds of wildebeests, zebra, and even a lion pride that was out napping under some acacia trees. They seemed quite content about where they were and showed no sign of wanting to hunt that day, but that was how many lions were, little did I know that I would learn more about their behavior in about a week.

The lions quickly disappeared from my view as I continued on; I thought I would fly all day until I realized that I was hungry and a little thirsty. I scoured the land for a few minutes until I came across a giant termite mound in the middle of the savanna. I had never had termite before and thought it was a nice time to try some, so I flew down.

I landed right in front of the mound and began to study it, wondering how to get the termites that lived in it out of there. I circled the mound but found no hole that the termites came in or out of which I found quite strange since I knew they had to come out for sunshine sooner or later.

I tried creating a hole with my beak but instead I received a pain in my beak that I would never want to encounter again. I wanted to give up after a while but my stomach would not stop growling and I just wanted to experience something new to my menu of food choices.

For quite a while I sat there thinking when suddenly a strange animal waddled from out of nowhere and began to scratch at the mound. Now that I am older I have learned that the creature was an aardvark (A/N: That's my community colleges mascot by the way, yeah sad isn't it).

"I tried that already, that mound is just too hard," I said to the aardvark.

The aardvark stopped what he was doing and stared at me for a minute before talking and that was not a pleasant stare let me tell you. He looked gloomy and mad at the same time and I did not know whether to fly away or wait for him to speak.

"That is because you are an ignorant bird," He finally said. "Those claws are not for digging but for hopping around like you birds do. My claws are specifically designed to break open a termite mound. Now if you will excuse me I am hungry and in no mood to talk to birds who think they should be like mammals."

I stood there shocked at what he said to me, he said I was ignorant and I found him to be more ignorant than I was and what was worse was he acted like he owned the termite mound since he casually began to dig around for the perfect spot to catch the termites.

Even though I had that rude awakening from that aardvark, I decided to watch him and see how he did it. He did not really dig much of a hole, he just broke a small piece off the mound and a second later he was sticking his long tongue in and returning it to his mouth with many small termites. I was amazed by his ability to catch termites so I decided to try and dig and use my tongue to get the insects out.

I was lucky enough to find a nice soft spot that I easily broke open and once I had done that job, I tried my wing at scooping up termites with my tongue. Of course I soon learned that my tongue was much smaller than the aardvark's who had actually watched me try to get the termites before rolling his eyes and wandering back in the savanna.

I was able to get three termites with my tongue and found them to be delicious and I of course wanted more but that was before one of the workers found my tongue to be an intrusion in his home and simply bit me with his powerful jaws. That pain I will not forget, it felt like a needle and the stupid creature would not let go until I started to munch on him. That was then I decided to find something easier to snack on without humiliating myself in front of the entire savanna.

I found some nice fruits to munch on afterwards and they suited me just fine. Once I filled my stomach up with food, I flew down to the nearby watering hole for a nice drink of water.

I landed next to a rhino who was busy enjoying his drink and found it to be an easy spot to get the water from, since the other areas had small overhangs that I could not reach since I was still a little small.

But of course I had problems there too.

"Hey why are in my spot, don't you know this is my drinking area," said the rhino in a very angry voice with his horn pointing to me.

"No I did not know that, you see I'm only traveling so I am not aware of the rules here," I said nervously while watching his horn move back and forth menacingly.

"Well now you know, now get out before my horn does it for you," he said.

I did not want to upset the rhino any further and was about to fly off when a giraffe stepped in front of me.

"Is this grumpy rhino bothering you?" she asked in a slightly annoyed yet kind voice.

"Oh no no I was just invading his water hole so I need to find another spot so he won't gore me," I said.

"Well just so you know, this is not his rightful spot, it is everyone's he just likes to boss others around," said the giraffe who then gave the rhino and angry look.

"Well it would be nice to have a drink without someone next to you ruining the water that you are about to drink," said the rhino.

"Oh picky, picky, picky I once drank out of a hippo pool and there were hundreds of hippos living there but that did not stop me from drinking out of it," said the giraffe.

"Well that was probably because you were in a drought during that time and had no other choice," said the rhino.

"No it was just last week," said the giraffe.

I knew their argument was going nowhere so I quickly took one last sip from the water hole and flew off to find my new home where hopefully I would not have to deal with neighbors like those.

Luckily for me the rest of the afternoon was uneventful and I soon ended up following a small river that would probably lead to some place nice. I soon realized that I needed to stop flying when I saw dark clouds heading my way. Knowing how much safer it was to perch while a storm came I soon found a baobab tree that suited me just fine. That is until I learned that the leaves did not provide much protection from the rain and I was instantly soaked.

I sat there looking like I had just returned from a river rafting adventure and I knew right then and there that it was going to be a long first night alone for me. I decided to leave the baobab tree and find a more suitable place to perch, I wasn't happy with it but at least I could not get any more drenched than I already was.

I finally settled down under a small tree that gave some protection, though I could still feel a few drops land on my head from time to time. I then began the long task of trying to dry off and get warm which would be hard since the sun was down for the rest of the day. But my luck quickly changed when I heard a voice call out to me.

"My my you look like something a hyena dragged in," said the voice.

I jumped up startled and looked around to see where the voice was coming from. "Who are you, and where are you?" I asked.

"Right in front of you, in this knot in the tree," said the voice who then poked his head out to reveal another hornbill like me.

"Oh you scared me for a minute, but I guess in weather like this any thing can be scary," I said.

"That's very true, so this must be your first time away from the nest huh?" said the hornbill.

"Yes I left this morning," I said.

"Well since I can tell you won't like sleeping out in this bad weather, why don't you spend the night with me tonight, but come morning you better be out of here, don't want anyone taking over my home," said the hornbill.

"You really mean it? You don't mind?" I asked surprised.

"Nope don't mind at all, now come on in," said the hornbill.

I then followed him into his little home inside the tree and once I was in, I found the place to be quite cozy and found a nice spot to settle down in. The hornbill smiled at me and settled down in a spot across from me. Now that I could see all of him, I noticed that he was a young hornbill, in his early prime. His feathers were slightly darker than mine and did not have very much white on the stomach, just a small spot near his legs. He had a kind smile too, which told me he could be trusted.

"Well now that we are all settled, my names Duka, what's yours?" he asked.

"Zazu and thanks for letting me stay here for the night," I said.

"Don't mention it, I do it all the time to fledglings like you who are lost or drowned by the rain," said Duka.

"Well that's still very nice of you," I said.

"So where are you headed?" asked Duka as he changed the subject.

"I don't even know, I'm just trying to find a nice home where food is plentiful and all the animals live in peace," I said.

"Ha good luck finding peace any where on this planet, everyone argues about something, claiming this was theirs, or no one should have that, its so annoying," said Duka.

"Well then I just want to find a place where food is plentiful and droughts and famine are rare," I said.

"Then I know just the place," said Duka.

"You do?" I asked excitedly.

"There's a place about a week away from here known as the pride lands, I was born there, lovely place, I remember the grass was greener than the greenest grass hopper. And life was peaceful mainly because King Ahadi kept everything in check especially the hyenas, he wouldn't even let them enter his boundaries," said Duka.

"Who's King Ahadi?" I asked.

"He's a lion that rules the pride lands, though I'm not sure if he still rules or not, he was in his late prime by the time I left which was at least four rainy seasons ago," said Duka.

"Then I will definitely find the place, which way do I go and are there any interesting land marks that I should look out for?" I asked. Now I was really excited about my possible future home.

"Well if you were heading south you were going in the right direction and you won't miss the place because there is a huge rock in the middle of the land, that's where King Ahadi lives," said Duka.

"I will remember that then, and you know what's funny," I said.

"What's that?" asked Duka looking interested.

"I think it was a coincidence that we met, I had no idea where I was going so the storm led me to you," I said right before I made a big yawn.

"Hmm you could be right. I also see that you are quite tired, so I will let you rest, but remember when morning comes you are out of here," said Duka.

"Don't worry I'm not going to take over your place. And thanks again for helping me," I said as I got into my sleeping mode. Which was puffing myself up and putting my head close to my chest.

I don't remember much after that, but I do know that I fell asleep very fast, and that I would be ready for a new day when morning arrived.

A/N: Yay chapter 7's done. Hope you all liked it and I am sorry if it was kinda corny with the aardvark, I feel there needs to be some humor in here. And as you can see I survived my first rafting trip somehow. We rode on class four rapids which are really big and scary but what was cool was that we did it under the Royal Gorge Bridge which is the highest suspension bridge in the world. It's really cool to look up at it. Well please review and I will see you all again whenever I update again, it might be by Tuesday but I'm not sure. See ya.