"Simba…" Mufasa glared at his son as he approached him, an unhappy look on his face. "I need to ask you a question."

Simba winced. His father had caught him as he and Nala were on their way out of the den. It was something Simba certainly didn't want to happen. After all, when he was under the control of the Uchoyo Diamond, he had tied up his father in the middle of the jungle, and it apparently took him until the following morning to escape. He didn't think his father would be very happy…

"Um… Dad… I – I c-can explain…" Simba stammered, a worried look on his face. He was going to be grounded for ever.

He knew it. "It's all just a big misunderstanding, I—"

"Are you okay?" Mufasa asked his son, looking concerned. "I expect you must be tired after the events of the past few days."

"What?" Simba's eyes widened, unable to mask his surprise. He wasn't in trouble? Well… that was just rare! "You… You mean you're not going to disown me or anything?"

Mufasa chuckled in response. "No, son. I know the reason for your actions the other day. That friend of yours – Haiba – explained it to me."

"He did?" said Simba, sounding surprised. Maybe that's a little reward for being his slave, he thought.

Mufasa nodded. "Yes, Simba. So don't worry – you won't get into any trouble for what you did. Let's just hope that there aren't any more of those Uchoyo Diamonds around…"

With that, he left, leaving Simba and Nala on their own. "I must be the luckiest cub in the world," Simba told Nala. "Stuff like that just doesn't happen. If my Dad killed me then it would be more likely than him telling me that I wasn't going to get in any trouble." He shrugged at her. "Maybe things are looking up."

As Simba and Nala walked out of the den together, they saw Haiba striding up to him. "Hey, Simba," he called. "Don't be mad at me. I've got this whole thing worked out. You see, I talked to your Dad and—"

"I know," Simba interrupted. "You told him all about that business with the diamond, didn't you?" He nodded. "Yep. I'm actually glad you explained it to him, otherwise my Dad probably would have exiled me from the kingdom, and that would have meant saying bye-bye to becoming the King."

"So we can put all of this nasty business behind us?" Haiba presumed, before glancing at Nala. "I see you and Nala are back together. You have no idea how much she was worrying while you were stuck in that hypnotic trance. It was always, 'Haiba, you shouldn't make Simba do that,' and 'Haiba, you shouldn't make Simba do this.' She must really care about you."

Simba looked a little surprised. "You mean she was worried about me? But I thought you two were just making me do whatever you wanted me to. I thought I was just your slave."

"Well… I'll admit that I went a little nuts with it," said Haiba. "But Nala really wasn't into controlling you all that much. She didn't like seeing you hypnotised. Trust me – it gets a little freaky after a while."

"It felt freaky," Simba told him. "While I was hypnotised, all I could think was how much I wanted to serve you. And then, as soon as I snapped out of it, all those feelings went away. It was really weird."

Haiba shrugged. "That's the power of the diamond, I guess. It gets inside your head. Messes with you. It makes me wonder how an inanimate object has low level psychic abilities. I met a psychic princess once – needless to say, she was never surprised. But I'm pretty sure that diamond isn't just a product of nature. Do you know what I think?"

Simba and Nala shook their heads. "No," Nala replied. "What do you think, Haiba?"

"I think it was made by somebody," Haiba revealed. "I think it was invented. Like… they wanted to use it as some kind of weapon."

Nala looked a little confused. "But who would want to invent something like that? It doesn't make much sense to me."

"I can think of a few people…" Simba muttered, staring down at the ground. He knew only one lion who had the power to create something like that… "But unless they can come back from the dead, I'm stumped."

"Looks like it'll always remain a mystery," Haiba said. "And that's a shame, too. I like uncovering lost secrets. Oh, well. There's plenty of other mysteries out there to solve."

"So what about today?" Nala asked. "Can you smell any adventure lurking around the corner, Simba?"

"Nope," Simba replied, shaking his head. "If I could smell adventure, then I'd be running towards it all the time. But you'd have to be some kind of god to smell things like that…"

"I actually have a highly developed sense of smell," Haiba told them. "Although it only really works when you want to smell out wild Mambo beasts."

"Wild what beasts?" Nala exclaimed, her eyes widening.

"Wild Mambo beasts," Haiba repeated. "Tiny little things. Live in caves. They look really cute from the outside, but that's just an act. You befriend them, only for them to rip your head off when you close your eyes to go to sleep. They multiply in water, too. Pretty nasty guys, if you ask me."

"Let's just hope we don't run into them…" Nala said. "So no one's got a plan?" She sighed. "I hate it when it's boring."

"It's a lot safer, you know," said a voice from behind them.

The three cubs turned around to face Zazu, who was perched on a large rock, his wings folded. "What do you want, Zazu?" Simba grumbled. "Haven't you got better things to do than lecture us?"

"I'm just saying," Zazu replied. "How would you feel if one of you got killed during your rambunctious outings?"

"Come on, Zazu," said Simba, taking a step towards him. "Are you telling me that you've never been in a deadly situation before?"

"Several, actually," Zazu responded. "There was that time when the Pride Lands were enslaved, and I helped you reclaim them."

Nala chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, right. You just stood there while Simba did all the work."

"Um…" Zazu thought for a moment. "Well, there was that other time where I was put in charge of the kingdom for the day."

"And you chickened out while we fought the bad guys," Simba retorted. "Face it, Zazu – you're just a coward."

"How dare you?" Zazu exclaimed, sounding offended. "I've been very heroic on several occasions, you furry little oaf! In fact, there was this one time with my father when…" He sighed. "I won't go into details about that right now, but I still consider myself brave!"

"Whatever, Zazu," Simba muttered, before turning away from him. "We're going to go off and have adventures of our own, while… you do all those brave things you claim to have done. See ya!"

With that, the three cubs raced off, leaving Zazu by himself. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother," he said, shaking his head.