Author's Note: Hey, I'm back! I am so sorry for the delay...thank you for holding, I have account services on the line and they're ready to—oh, wait, no...that's from my old job (it's been a rough Summer...I finally called it quits and left my job after three panic attacks in the last two weeks, and now I'm a humble cashier at Home Depot). Anyways, here's the next item from the list. Look for another update (really) next week (I swear...may my cat be struck dead if I do not update).

Archery Tournaments

"Tell me again how this happened?" Aragorn asked, trying in vain to restrain his amusement.

Legolas sighed, glaring unhappily up at his friend. "I told you, I was invited by the men of the village to enter their tournament."

"Ah. As a target?"

"No," the elf gritted his teeth. "As a contestant."

"I see," the man nodded, dumping the contents of his pack out as though in search of something. "And did the men of the village know that, as an elf, you were more skilled than possibly all of them combined?"

"I believe they did."

Aragorn frowned. "Legolas."

The elf sighed. "Very well. They did not know. They were expecting I would be as lacking in skill as they were."

"And they were wrong?" Aragorn prompted. "I don't believe I have enough spare bandages...do you have any in your pack?"

"I do not have my pack," Legolas replied, rolling his eyes. "I threw it at them as we escaped, to distract them, remember?"

"Oh, yes, of course. What happened after you entered?"

"You told me it was a bad idea," Legolas continued.

"Yes, I remember that. I told you that things like this happen far too often, and that you should just stay away from human competitions."

"It was only a minor wound!"

"Five arrows is minor?" Aragorn asked in mock astonishment. "Did you receive a head wound I was unaware of?"

"They were all minor wounds," the elf protested. "I still have one good leg!"

"But two arrows in the other more than make up for that," the ranger shook his head. "I will be honest with you, Legolas...you are the only being I know who can be seriously injured while entering an archery tournament."

"Do not be ridiculous," Legolas retorted, trying to sit up only to be pushed back down by his friend. "I was not injured entering the tournament."

"Forgive me," Aragorn nodded. "You were injured when winning the tournament. I told you: the people here aren't as open-minded as some of the villages further south. It would have gone better for you had you lost, or at least missed one shot."

"Do you know how long it's been since I missed a shot?" Legolas asked. "It is not that easy."

"How hard can it be? You just don't aim for the target."

"You try to break hundreds of years of training to spare the pride of a dozen men you just met and you will see how hard it is."

Aragorn frowned. "I'm not exactly sure that last comment made sense," he muttered.

"So now it's my fault that they're still hunting us?" Legolas continued, his voice rising in anger. "You are completely innocent in the matter? So the fact that you told the village elders that their people would have to be utter fools to engage in such a competition with an elf has nothing to do with our current situation?"

"Quiet!" Aragorn hissed, clapping a hand over his friend's mouth. "You'd best be glad their tracking skills are on par with their archery skills, or they would have found us by now."

Legolas glared at Aragorn until the man removed his hand. "Remind me again," he said quietly, as Aragorn started re-packing his pack, "who was it who decided visiting this village would be a good idea?"

"I had no trouble when I came through here alone...I believe you attract the ire in men, Legolas."

"I do not!" the elf protested as Aragorn pushed aside the branches that had been hiding them from sight to look for the men from the village. "In any case, I seem to remember a certain ranger goading me into accepting the men's challenge."

"I seem to remember trying to convince you otherwise."

"After3braggin3 to the3men of 3he vill3ge that3I could3have be3ted them all blindfolded? Aragorn, even a dwarf knows not to boast so boldly of his talent in the company of strangers."

Aragorn reddened and quickly pushed aside the branches. "They have moved on," he announced, half-kneeling to pull Legolas to his feet. "We should leave before they return."

"Yes," Legolas agreed, with a hint of sarcasm coloring his voice. "We should leave before your boasting gets us into any more trouble."

The ranger merely shook his head. "I think perhaps we should avoid archery tournaments from now on...they seem to cause more trouble than they're worth."

Legolas frowned. "What else is there to do other than slaying orcs?"

"Well," Aragorn glanced around, then his face lit up with a bright smile. "We could always go hunting!"

Reviews? Flames? Tar and Feathers?

Three guesses what the next one's about...

Other updates are a-coming...the next chapter of Darkness should be up Tuesday evening, if I don't get it finished tonight, and a new chapter in A Rather Long Sequel by the end of this week. I don't know if I'll get more than one update in the stories out this week, but I'll try. I should at least be back to one update a week now, now that everything is finally gaining some semblance of normality. And it really is this time...whereas in the last five weeks it usually took me several days to even get a page done, I had this entry done within a handful of hours. Return of inspiration/dissipation of writer's block is usually the first sign of normal life returning for me.

Also, there's another one-shot on the way. I'll give you a couple of hints: it's connect to a previous story (though I won't tell whether it's a prequel, sequel, or concurrent/POV change), and the previous story was originally planned as a Teitho entry. The original story was also written as a oneshot, though it may not be posted the same way. It also may or may not have actually been an entry, as I believe I have several "inspired by Teitho" stories up. Finally, it's not An Impossible Choice...the Bad Company sequel will be posted as soon as Fear No Darkness is over.