"Okay." Nala smiled. "So maybe it is that bad."

The water hole had been completely drained. It couldn't even be technically called the 'water hole' now. It was just a hole. A very big hole, but still a hole, nonetheless. There was not a single drop of water to be found anywhere. It had all completely dried up. It all looked so empty and deserted. Nala found herself feeling thirsty just by looking at it.

"How did this happen?" Simba couldn't believe what he was seeing, and, to be honest, it made him feel a little worried.

The water hole was the main source of water for the Pride Lands. So, if it was completely empty, then where was everyone going to get their water from? There wasn't much else around for miles. Rain wasn't common, so it wouldn't be long before everyone died of dehydration.

"I would assume it was caused by the events of the previous day – or night, depending on how one thinks about it,"

Haiba mused. "Don't you remember? Death turned the water into blood."

Simba shuddered. "Don't remind me," he said. "So what you're saying is that it must have been reversed or something, right?"

Haiba nodded. "Yep. I guess that instead of turning the blood back into water, it just got emptied out. Well, either that or someone else drained it. I don't know why anyone would do that, though."

Nala chuckled. "Maybe they're just really thirsty?" she jokingly suggested with a shrug. "Or they want their own pool to swim in."

"This is just weird," Simba said, jumping from the edge of the large hole, landing on the hard dirt below.

"Ow!" he cried, surprised at how solid and firm the dirt was. If someone jumped into this hole, then they wouldn't have known there was once water flowing through it. "This dirt is really hard!"

"Let me see," Nala said, before jumping into the hole herself. "Yow!" she yelled, as pain shot up through her paws.

"That's pretty hard!"

"This is why we have common sense," Haiba said, before gently lowering himself from the edge and into the hole. "I mean, what did you expect from a completely dried up hole? Hey, here's an idea: why don't we start spitting and see if we can fill it back up again? I'm sure that's a real smart thing to do!"

"I'm distracted today," Simba muttered, looking around the derelict hole. "And tired. Just stop yelling at me and let me think." He wandered over to the edge, lowering himself so he could take a look at the dirt wall. "Hey… look at this."

"What is it?" Nala asked, joining Simba by his side.

"Look." Simba pointed to a little tunnel that had been built into the wall of the hole. Peering inside, Simba could only see darkness. Maybe it went on for miles and miles and miles, to a place far, far away… "That must be where the water goes."

"Where do you think it leads to?" Nala wondered, looking at Simba.

Simba shrugged. "I don't know. Could be so far away that just thinking about it makes your head hurt. Or it could just be on the other side of the kingdom. Either way, I know the one person that would be able to tell us about every single thing in the Pride Lands – including water tunnels."

"Who?" Haiba asked.

"Zazu, obviously."

"Fired!" Zazu exclaimed, tears dripping down his face. "Unemployed! Terminated! Let go! Removed!" He hugged the tree branch he was sat on. "Oh, this is an absolute travesty! I can't stand it! I should throw myself into the water hole! That is, if there were any water left in it. Another problem for the so-called 'high and mighty' King to take care of – without my help."

Aside from the night of his father's murder, Zazu had never felt so upset before. He'd worked as the King's royal advisor ever since he had claimed the throne from his father, Ahadi; before Zazu had even began to grow up. That position was all that had mattered to him. There was no one else in his life. No one to like. No one to love. No one at all.

He was all alone in the world. All that had significance was his job – and he didn't even have that anymore.

Now what was he going to do? He had no purpose in life. He might as well die. He wanted to die there and then. Or just shrivel up and disappear for ever. Either way, he didn't mind.

"Zazu!"

Zazu let out a cry of surprise, falling from the branch he was clinging on to and hitting the ground below with a loud thump! "What in the name of—"

Zazu looked upwards, and found Simba, Nala and Haiba standing over him. "Oh. Young master, Simba, it's you." Picking himself to his feet, Zazu brushed himself down with his wings. "What do you want?"

"Zazu, we need your help," Simba explained. "You see, the water hole's been completely drained and—"

"I did notice, for your information," Zazu told the cub. "It would be much harder to miss it. Anyway, what seems to be the problem?"

"As I was saying," Simba continued, "the water hole is completely empty, but we found a tunnel in the wall. You know everything about the Pride Lands, so where does it lead to?"

Zazu easily knew the answer to Simba's question. Having studied every inch of the Pride Lands four thousand and seventy-three times, he knew exactly where the tunnel went. "The tunnel connects water from the Pride Lands water hole to the central river source right in the middle of the flatlands, to the left."

"In the middle, to the left?" Haiba said with a raised eyebrow. "That doesn't even make any sense."

"It does when you've studied these lands for years," was Zazu's response. "You know you can trust an… ex-royal advisor like me. I hope you're not planning on travelling all the way out there, though."

"Yes, we are," Simba confirmed. "Come on, guys. Thanks for your help, Zazu."

With that, the three cubs were gone. "No problem at all, master Simba," Zazu called after them, before looking down at the ground, sighing sadly. "That's… what I'm here for."