AN: Don't worry, I'm not depressed again...just bored out of my skull. I'm not sure what to think about this one. It seems a little...weird.

Rivers

Legolas pulled his knees up toward his chest, resting his chin against them with a bored sigh.

"We could go fishing," Aragorn offered.

"The river is moving too fast," he protested.

It was true. Spring rains and melting snow had swollen the river, and by the time the two friends arrived at the ford to cross the water was raging. Any other usable ford was at least a day's journey in either direction, and there was no guarantee they could find a better crossing.

So they had decided to wait for the water to go down a bit rather that risking going miles out of their way to cross.

"It doesn't look that deep," the ranger commented.

Legolas snorted. "It doesn't look that wide, either." He knew it would be foolish to try to cross the river...but hadn't they been caught in worse floods before?

"It would take us several days to find another ford," Aragorn continued thoughtfully, looking back at their horses.

They were silent for a moment. "What are you suggesting?" Legolas asked, his tone suspicious.

Aragorn's eyes widened innocently. "Me? Nothing...although, do you suppose you could tie the end of a rope to one of your arrows and shoot it into that tree on the other side of the river?"

Legolas glanced to where his friend was pointing and shook his head. "With my eyes closed," he replied.

"Ah. Good. Just asking."

The pair fell silent again, the only sound the roaring of the river before them.

"You know, if we had a rope to hold on to we could probably cross before the river goes down," the ranger offered.

"That would be foolish, Estel," Legolas replied, staring into the trees beyond the river.

"Aye, it would," Aragorn sighed, leaning back on his elbows.

The ranger sighed heavily. Legolas glanced over at him, shaking his head to see his friend falling asleep. "I do not think you should rest in the open like that," he said, nudging Aragorn with his foot. "There is no shelter here...you leave yourself wide open to an enemy attack."

"There is no shelter on this side," the man groused. "We had been planning to make for the trees, remember? Which we cannot do since we cannot cross."

Legolas frowned, nodding slowly. "And there are no trees on this side within an hour's journey."

"And we certainly don't want to be any farther from the river in case the water should recede and we could cross it," Aragorn offered.

The elf huffed out a sigh, and stood up. He carefully stretched, then pulled an arrow out of his quiver and began studying it.

"What are you doing?" the ranger asked.

"I was merely wondering how accurately I could shoot with a rope attached to the arrow," Legolas replied calmly.

Aragorn sprang to his feet. "We should test it," he said, just as calmly. "You never know...one day we might be in a situation where such an action would be required."

Legolas shook his head, sitting back down. "No, it would be too dangerous."

The ranger had pulled a coil of rope out of his pack and glanced over at the elf. "What would?"

"You know," the elf retorted in a dangerous tone. "First you would convince me to fire the arrow...then we would need to cross the river to retrieve the rope, only to have the rope break halfway across the river."

Aragorn laughed, sitting on the edge of the bank. "You worry too much. Very well, if you're so concerned we can wait until the water recedes."

Legolas rolled his eyes, scooting over to join Aragorn. "You know it would happen," he said, pushing his friend's shoulder. "And you would be half-drowned by the time I managed to pull you from the river."

"Me?" the ranger asked, laughing again. "I seem to recall, Legolas, that you were the one who nearly drowned last time."

"Only because I did not realize how heavy you were and you very nearly dragged me to the bottom when you fell out of the boat."

"I have never fallen out of a boat!"

Legolas raised one eyebrow mischievously. "You are right, forgive me. It was a raft."

Aragorn's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Admit it. You have come closer to drowning more times than I have."

"Only because I have lived longer!" the elf protested. "Were I mortal, Estel, I would be nowhere near your record for falling into lakes and rivers!"

"Perhaps we should remedy that," Aragorn grinned, grabbing his friend by the shoulders as though to push him in.

Legolas yelped in mock panic, fighting against Aragorn as though he fully expected the ranger to push him into the river.

Unfortunately, the underside of the bank they were seated on had been worn away by the sudden flood and began to crumble.

Aragorn pulled away in surprise when he accidentally succeeded in pushing Legolas' head into the river as the ground caved away. He recovered, grabbing the elf's flailing hand to pull him back up.

But the current had already caught his friend's body, and before Aragorn could properly get his feet under him he and Legolas were pulled into the river.

He fought for air, kicking wildly to keep his head above the water. He was stopped suddenly when he slammed into a fallen log with almost-bruising force, and struggled to cling to it.

Something slammed into him, and he saw Legolas clinging to the log beside him. "How shall we decide this one?" he asked, a grinning a trifle foolishly.

"Let's just agree this happens to both of us far too often," Aragorn offered, panting as he regained his breath.

Legolas could only nod. His hand slipped and he started to tumble back into the water—only to stop after a few inches.

"Aragorn?" the elf said sheepishly, straightening up. "Stand up."

The man's eyes widened, and he slowly stretched his feet down into the water. Fast though it was, the river was only as deep as his chest.

He groaned, shaking the water out of his eyes as he pushed his way toward the shore, kept from washing further downstream by aid of the fallen log.

"Perhaps we should avoid crossing just after the rains?" Legolas suggested.

Aragorn shook his head. "I'm afraid that won't be enough...we should probably avoid rivers altogether."

"Aye," Legolas chuckled, sinking down onto dry land as soon as they reached the shore. "Rivers, lakes, ponds...and boats."

The ranger didn't reply, merely turning around and shoving Legolas back toward the river.

The elf, to his credit, managed to keep from tumbling back into the water.

After all, nearly drowning once in a day is enough for an elf or a ranger...usually.

Reviews? Flames? Tar and Feathers?

All right...I can't keep updating this every day forever so this is probably the last one until next week.