Okay started writing this at 11:20 pm on June 11th. Just saw the movie Willow, very good movie, I highly recommend it; it has a shirtless Val Kilmer, yummy.
Thanks, thanks, and more thanks.
Nala5: That last review confused me. I mean thank you for adding me to your list of favorites but couldn't you do that when reviewing Chapter nine as well instead of doing it in chapter one. Sorry I'm just confused. Thanks for adding me though.
MorpheusDreamer: Glad you liked the chapter, originally I was thinking of having Mufasa finding him in the mud, but then I thought Rafiki would be much cooler. Thanks for the review.
Sunrise19: Glad you liked the chapter, thanks for the review. Keep up the good work with your stories.
Bounding Jackalope: That's okay if you did not review. A lot of people just put the stories on their favorites list and don't review. I found that out with this new system that ffn just installed. I rather like it that way too. Well thanks for reviewing.
Gryfffinrose: Thanks for the applause; I hope Sasha gets away from that cat boiler. Hope you like this chapter.
Pichooi: Oh dear I totally forgot you even reviewed, that's why I said something in that last review to you and I am sorry about that. My brain is not right sometimes. Any way thanks for the comments, I'm glad that you said I portrayed the characters very well; I'm always worried about that. Hope you like this chapter.
Simba11: Yay another new person! Glad you liked the chapter. Simba will be born in about two or three chapters from now so don't worry. Thanks for the review.
Now on to my new crazy chapter where Zazu begins his first day.
I awoke the next morning after discovering that the sun made a bright beam through my new home in the tree. At first I found it annoying until I realized that it was a good thing because I had to start my first day on the job as advisor to Mufasa. Once I realized this I quickly wiped the sleep from my eye and peeked out of my home to see where Mufasa was. I found him rather quickly for he was lying at the edge of pride rock, most likely waiting for me. So I flew down to greet him.
"Good morning sire," I said in an energetic tone.
Mufasa jumped up and turned around to see me coming toward him and smiled. "You scared me for a moment there, but good morning Zazu, have a good nights sleep?" he asked.
"Oh yes it was quite nice," I said.
"Ready to start your first day as advisor?" asked Mufasa.
"Yes sire, just give me something to do and I will do it," I said.
"Good, now first I want you to begin the day with the morning report. Just fly around the pridelands and look for anything unusual or anything that is bothering the animals. Once you are through, you report back to me and tell me all about it and when you are done with that I will give you another task," said Mufasa.
"Yes sir I will do as you say, when do you need me to report back?" I asked.
"Before the sun is just above us because then afterwards it will no longer be morning," said Mufasa with a slight chuckle.
"I will do that then," I said and flew off into the pridelands.
I decided that before I should begin my days work that I should find Rafiki and thank him for helping me. I decided that Rafiki might be in his tree so I flew over to find out. Sure enough he was there, painting something on one of the branches.
"Good morning Rafiki," I said cheerfully.
Rafiki did not turn around but continued to paint. "Good morning Zazu, I heard you are the pridelands new advisor," he said.
"Yup, I start today, I decided to come by and tell you but since you already know, I guess I will just tell you thank you since it was my second reason for coming by," I said.
"You are welcome young fledgling, I hope you do as well as Mango did," said Rafiki who never took his eyes off what he was doing, I finally had to ask.
"So what are you painting?" I asked.
Rafiki said nothing but stepped aside to show that he had painted me flying above Pride Rock with the sun beaming down on me. I was amazed at how lovely it was.
"My paintings tell me that you will have a long a fruitful career here, a very good sign," said Rafiki.
I stared at the painting for a few minutes before looking at the other paintings that were near it. He had one with Mufasa standing on the edge of pride rock and roaring. He had one with Scar that showed him alone and sad. He had another with Ahadi running with his old mate who had died six months before and another of Sarabi watching Mufasa roar on pride rock.
"Each one of those images have a meaning including the picture of Ahadi and Uru his mate. It means that the sun will set on Ahadi soon, when though I am not sure," said Rafiki.
"That's a sad omen though," I said.
"Yes it is, but when my heart says paint, I paint, and whatever comes up, comes up," said Rafiki.
"That's very fascinating, how did you acquire these powers?" I asked.
"My old teacher taught me, he used to live here, I took over his job when he died," said Rafiki.
"Oh I see, well I better get to work, I will see you around sometime," I said as I flew off.
"Yes take care young fledgling, if you need anything, just come and see me any time," said Rafiki.
I quickly said goodbye and flew off toward a local water hole I saw earlier and see if anything is alright with the animals around there. Once I arrived, I found that everyone seemed to be there that day but there was so much room that no one was fighting for space, save for a few hippos who wanted the shallowest part of the water hole. Everything seemed to be fine there until I heard a group of ten wildebeest talking about a problem. Remembering what Mufasa said I decided to listen and see if anything was wrong with them.
"Have you noticed how those Zebra's always hang out with us sometimes while grazing," said one.
"Oh yes especially since the ones that are around me always seem to have bad bowel movements," said another.
"Yes and then their foals always run amok through the herd I swear I almost stepped on one once," said another.
"And they act like it is their space too and eat the roots right out of the grass so when the dry season comes we barely have anything," said the first.
"Is there even a reason why they hang around us?" asked a male wildebeest.
"Probably be less of an easy target for the predators about, so we can be the ones to be eaten first," said another.
While I listened, I was so in tuned to what they were all saying until one made it known that I was eavesdropping on their conversation.
"I think we should keep moving everyone, that bird up there is listening, he might tell the zebras about us," it said.
The leader of the group snorted and walked up closer and eyed me. "So an eavesdropper eh no doubt you will be telling the zebra's about our problem soon," she said.
"Oh no maim, I don't even know any of the zebra's here, this is my first day as advisor to King Mufasa and I was making sure everything is alright with everyone," I said nervously.
"Oh even better, can you tell that Mufasa that I am sick and tired of all that mud forming near the base of the canyon over there after a big rainstorm, we nearly lost a colt to one huge mud puddle after getting stuck in it," she said.
"I will try to tell him that," I said.
"See that you do," she said and without a thank you or goodbye, she and her group left the water hole. See what I mean when I told you that wildebeests have no manners.
I sighed and that's when I knew that the wildebeests would not be happy with me listening to their daily conversations, maybe I could hide better in a tree or something.
"Excuse me," said a voice from behind that made me jump in fright, I turned around to find a giraffe standing there looking at me.
"Sorry for startling you, but my name is Tafari and I could not help but over hear that you are the advisor to King Mufasa," he said.
"Yes that's what I am now, is there any problem that you have?" I asked.
"No but I can help you, you see for a few years I assisted Mango as he advised the pride lands, I was glad he retired, his hearing was not so good," said Tafari.
"Oh so you can tell me what's going on with everyone out here?" I asked happily.
"Yes I can, but only around in this area, but of course that is only because that's where most of the conversations are but if you go all over there are some interesting problems others have. But its good to have a giraffe help you since no one will know about it, at least that's what I believe, I have not gotten into trouble yet," said Tafari.
"I would love for you to help me then," I said.
"Good, before I can continue though, I'll have you know that the gophers in this area are also very good at helping out, they have a colony not far from here," said Tafari.
"Alright then, so what's happening in the pride lands?" I asked.
"Well as you have heard the wildebeests are not happy with the zebra's, you'll learn in time though that they are not happy with anything. There's been one warthog that has been stinking up another waterhole not far from here. Every time he comes near, everyone has to leave because of the stench; I think someone has been planning to see Mufasa today about that problem. Oh yes and the ostriches are starting the hatching process so they are very nervous about where the lions hunt at the moment since they might step on their eggs," said Tafari.
"Alright, I'll make sure, Mufasa knows about all this," I said.
"Do you want to meet tomorrow at the same time?" asked Tafari.
"If that's alright with you," I said.
"It's perfect," said Tafari.
"Alright, thank you for helping me today, see you tomorrow then," I said.
Tafari just nodded and began walking toward a stretch of acacia trees. I was glad I received information on my first day so I would not come back empty winged. I decided to make a few rounds to see if anyone else was having problems. I found a that a stork was disrupting an crocodile nest and picking on the little ones, I tried to tell him to stop but he acted like he was the top member of the water hole. I knew Mufasa could handle him eventually or at least the crocodile.
I then flew back to pride rock where I found Mufasa chewing on a bone with Ahadi beside him, Scar was nowhere to be seen, he must have been out hunting.
"I have returned with the morning report sire," I said happily.
"Oh good, any news?" asked Mufasa.
I told Mufasa all that I had heard and he looked quite pleased by how much information I gave him especially since it was my first day.
"Well I better go speak to the wildebeest about that problem they are having, Dad would you like to come with me?" said Mufasa.
"That would be nice, I have not been out much lately," said Ahadi as he got up but quite slowly because of his age. It made me remember that drawing in Rafiki's tree.
"What would you like me to do sir?" I asked realizing that I probably had another job to do.
"Come with us and see what the life of a king is all about," said Mufasa.
"Alright then," I said and followed them toward the wildebeests.
It did not take us long to find them, they were all crowded around a big grassy area and enjoying the fact that the zebras had not arrived and ruined their day. Mufasa cautiously walked up to them and showed that he was not hunting them by keeping his tail up straight.
"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt but I was told that you do not like Zebra's hanging around your area, is this true?" asked Mufasa.
The same wildebeest who spoke to me earlier quickly ran over and snorted a few inches from Mufasa's face.
"Yes and is there a problem with us not liking zebra's?" she asked.
"Slightly, tell me why you don't like them and I will try to reach an agreement with you," said Mufasa.
"Because they make us the easy targets for predators like you, you all go after the zebra, but it hides behind us and so you find us the easier prey and so you kill us, now don't you find that very rude of them," said the wildebeest.
"Well the main reason is because you are in large groups, they like large groups," said Mufasa.
"Then they should stay in their own herds, and another thing, they smell terrible, have you ever smelled a zebra during a hot day," said the wildebeest.
"Oh and you don't smell, why I remember one time when I tried to hunt you, one of your members nearly choked me to death with his horrid bowel movements," said Ahadi in a very annoyed voice.
"Are you saying that we are filthy?" asked the wildebeest who then snorted and stomped in front of Ahadi angrily.
"By the looks of it yes, now listen here; you need to respect all the creatures here. They are part of the circle of life. And each one of them has an importance, now you should either accept that or leave the pride lands where zebra aren't as numerous," said Ahadi in a very commanding tone that was enough to make any one bow down to him and ask for forgiveness, even for someone his age. Of course the wildebeest was unmoved.
"Fine then, if the zebra become more annoying then we will leave, for now we will continue to complain, so you have not heard the last of us," said the wildebeest who then stomped off acting like she was the one who owned the world.
Mufasa stood there in annoyance. He hated how rude the wildebeest were and wished they would change their ways. Ahadi growled under his chest, even though he was no longer king he still acted like he had a burden to take care of.
"Well let's take care of something less angering," I said hoping to lighten the mood.
"Yes why don't we take care of that one warthog that one zebra complained about, it might be easy getting him to stop smelling since warthogs are understanding creatures," said Mufasa.
"Yes why not, I do rather enjoy talking to them sometimes," said Ahadi.
We spent a good deal of time trying to help the warthog with his problems, of course he promised that he would be more careful but it would be hard and that we should be patient. Mufasa acknowledged this and told him if anyone else complained to speak to him about it.
The rest of the day was spent talking to the pride and hearing stories of lions of old. I found it odd though that Scar returned late that evening saying that he had been scouting the outlands making sure everything was in order. Of course Ahadi questioned him about the hyena stench in his coat and he stated that it was only because of how many there were in the outlands. I could tell that he was probably lying but I kept my mouth shut, I did not want to end my first day being killed by that beast.
Once all our conversations ended, everyone went into pride rock for a nice long rest. I for one went into my home and quickly learned that my day had been long and busy for I fell asleep before I could even think about counting sheep.
A/N: Well there's chapter 10. Hope you all liked it. In case you all were wondering what the name Tafari means, it means "one who inspires awe," in Swahili,and any one can be in awe when staring at a giraffe. I still awed by that huge tongue and I feed them crackers at the zoo all the time. Well please review and I will see you all soon with another chapter.