A/N I had so much fun writing the beginning of this, maybe a little too much fun. Sorry if any of the characters feel out of place. Do not fear, troubles lie ahead for our dear friends. OH! And disclaimer! I have never set foot in a marsh before. I live in a desert where we have to dam up our water so we have some to irrigate with. I know nothing about marshes.

Disclaimer: not mine and will never be mine.

A Matter of Circumstance

"This is disgusting." Legolas scrunched up his nose, yanking his boots out of the mud and water with a squelching sound.

"Would you rather have the orcs raining arrows down upon our heads? That could potentially be disgusting as well," Elladan replied dryly, yanking his own feet free of the muck as they trekked through the unforgiving marsh.

"I would be happy to take the orcs out of the equation entirely." Aragorn turned to look back behind him. "How did we get into this situation anyway?"

"I really don't know, Estel," Elrohir hinted. "It could have something to do with the fact that we went looking for the orcs."

"We didn't exactly go looking for them…" Legolas huffed, shifting his bow a little higher to ensure that it wouldn't get into the murky water. "The part about all of us accidentally stumbling into them wasn't exactly supposed to happen. You two are as guilty of it as Aragorn and I."

"Right." Elrohir didn't sound convinced and they continued on. The water lapped up against their legs as small insects buzzed merrily away.

"At least we were able to lose them, thanks to Estel and his quick thinking." Elladan ruffled the human's hair, laughing as Aragorn smacked his hand away.

"Shut up," he muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Yup, this plan was definitely his. Explains the disgusting part," Legolas shuddered as he took a step forward and directly into deeper water. Cursing, he closed his eyes as the filthy water crept over the edge of his elegant boots and seeped into the tops of them. "It's in my shoes now," he hissed under his breath, his nose curling up.

"What was that?" Aragorn smirked turning around. He had a slight height advantage on the elf and the water had yet to make it over the tops of his boots. Legolas glared daggers him, making the twins laugh. "Come on, Legolas. It does the job! The smell will cover our tracks. The orcs will never be able to smell us over the stench of this swamp."

Legolas didn't answer and Aragorn shook his head, continuing to splash forward.

The water continued to deepen until no one's boots were safe and Legolas' bad mood seemed to be rubbing off on the rest of them as well.

"The other side isn't far," Aragorn stated after hearing another unhappy grunt from behind him. "I don't understand what the big deal is! All of you have faced much worse than a marsh, even—heaven forbid— a smelly marsh."

"That is true," Elladan said after an awkward pause.

"And it's better than a cave, hmm, Legolas?" Aragorn swatted an insect away. "There is plenty of nature here."

Legolas folded his arms across his chest. "Don't mock my pain," he insisted, even as his lips twitched upwards. The human rolled his eyes and almost walked into Elladan who had suddenly stopped.

"There's a body over there," Elladan stated softly, raising a finger and pointing.

"A what?" Legolas sloshed through the water to stand next to the twin. Sure enough, just a few feet away there was a man floating on his stomach in the middle of sludge and moss. They all stared for a moment.

"That's not good," Elrohir said. He reached out, catching Aragorn's arm as the human moved forward.

"What?" Aragorn asked, glaring at the twin.

"You always want to touch everything, shouldn't we make sure whoever killed him isn't still here?"

Aragorn frowned, looking over at the dead body. "There's no blood," he pointed out. "I think whatever he died from was of natural causes." And, ducking free of the elf's hold, he grabbed a hold of the man's shoulders and flipped him over.

The man's large green eyes were wide open as they stared up unseeingly but there was indeed no gaping wounds or signs of foul play.

"Huh," Elladan said, stepping closer to get a better look. "Do you think he just had a heart attack and died? He looks pretty young…What was he doing here in the first place?"

"Maybe he was running away. Or maybe he lives around here?" Elrohir questioned, smacking Aragorn upside the head for disobeying him before looking closer.

"No one in their right minds would live here," Legolas protested vehemently. "More likely he was here for the same reason we are."

Aragorn turned to look at the elf. "I could live here," he stated and Legolas just shook his head in clear horror.

"Well don't expect any visits from me," he insisted and Aragorn turned away, laughing.

"Look at this," Elladan held the man's arm up, pointing at the inside of his wrist. "I think we found how he died." The rest of them crowded around, eager to see. Two small holes had punctured the skin, leaving it swollen and bruised. "A snake bit him."

"As I said, natural causes—kind of." Aragorn straightened, staring down at the dead man. "So, uh, don't try and pet any snakes and we should be fine." He aimed a pointed look towards Legolas, who held his hands up in protest.

"That was one time, Estel, one time."

Elladan and Elrohir both stopped, turning to look at the prince.

"Wait, what? I don't know this story." Elrohir looked eagerly between the elf and the man. Legolas waved a hand dismissively but Aragorn sniggered, opening his mouth.

"It's not important," Legolas protested, shoving the man lightly. "What is important is this poor soul and what he was he doing out here."

Aragorn frowned, turning back to face the dead human, but as soon as Legolas back was turned he shot a wicked smile Elrohir's direction leaving him in little doubt that he would hear the story later.

They all stood there, looking at the man's lax face. "It feels wrong just to leave him."

"Everyone deserves some sort of burial," Aragorn added, moving forward and grasping at the man's cloak. They were just starting to wrap it gently around his body when Aragorn paused. Frowning, he bent over the man's other fist and began to pry it open.

"What are you doing, Estel?" Legolas asked, looking over his shoulder. Aragorn shrugged, still trying to pry the man's hand open. Grunting, he pulled something free and staggered back a step with the momentum. Hanging from his hand was a silver chain, a chain that was encrusted with diamonds that were attached to a sparkling emerald.

"Huh." Elladan held out his hand to see it and Aragorn dropped it into his fist. He held it up to the fading light. "That's a really fancy necklace for someone like him to be just be carrying around." It was true, the man's clothing was faded and patched in many places, bearing the marks of a hard life.

"He was probably a bugler," Aragorn said softly. "Or maybe just some poor soul who stumbled onto something at the wrong time."

"So, the real question is do we keep the necklace?" Elladan asked, still gripping the cool metal in his hand.

Aragorn nodded. "We can turn it in at Stonewall and see if it belongs to anyone. That way we might be able to direct loved ones to a missing body and give them some closure."

They once again finished wrapping his body in the cloak, wishing that they knew the man's name so that they could send him off properly. There was nothing more to do, and they moved on.

"The poor bloke," Elrohir sighed, glancing back. "Dying by snake bite, alone in a swamp."

"Just everyone, keep an eye out for snakes! We don't want anyone to follow the same fate," Elladan chimed in, looking between Legolas and Aragorn pointedly.

"What are you looking at us for!" Aragorn protested, shaking his head. Elladan and Elrohir rolled their eyes after giving each other exasperated looks.

They continued to tramp through the marsh, but the body had cast a gloom over them and they talked little until the sun began to set.

By this point, all had become weary of walking through the endless dull grey water. Their shoes were laden with mud and each time it seemed a little bit more difficult to yank their feet free.

"I swear we have been by that rock three times now!" Legolas grunted in exasperation, pointing at a large rock before swiping at a bug that had flown into his face. "I feel like we are going in circles."

Aragorn pulled up to a stop, panting lightly and wiping at the sweat on his face. "We should have left this swamp long ago. This is ridiculous."

"Is the ranger lost?" Elrohir jibbed, also stopping. Mud was splattered upside his face and the remark lacked the energy that it normally would have had.

"I'm not an elf with—how do you always put it, Elrohir—oh yes, an innate sense of direction." Aragorn returned, looking around him in the fading darkness. There wasn't much dry land to be seen and he really didn't fancy spending the night in the swamp, but there might be little else for it.

"He's got you there," Legolas whispered to Elrohir.

"Oh, shut up."

Elladan cleared his throat loudly. "Listen, we should probably be focusing on how to get out of here. Which direction do we need to be going?"

"We've been going north, but I swear we have been by that rock before. Who knows how many directions we have been going in." Legolas folded his arms across his chest and hunched forward, looking miserable.

"Not all of them, anyway, otherwise we would have found our way out," Aragorn snapped out, pulling his wet cloak further around his shoulders. He shivered, switching his weight from one leg to the other.

"We should go this way," Elrohir said, pointing north.

"We have been going north already. We should head towards that tree," Elladan said with a frown, pointing in a different direction. It was beginning to mist rain and he hunched further into his cloak.

They contented against each other for several more minutes, finial deciding to go southwest. Legolas and Elladan were in a huff, having firmly agreed that they had already gone that direction but in the end, they left with them. All they really wanted was out of the foul-smelling marsh and onto dry ground.

The sun sank ever lower and their moods got even worse. Most of their time was spent staring idly ahead, putting all their effort in slogging through the water.

At least the bugs are gone, Legolas couldn't help thinking as the day turned into night. He could see Estel shivering in the cool air and he briefly thought about offering Aragorn his cloak, but it was just as wet, if not wetter, then the humans.

"We're still going in circles!" Aragorn swore an hour later, smacking his hand against the water and causing a spray of the stinking solution. "Look," he pointed and sure enough they were back at the same rock.

"I'm starting to think that the dead man cursed us," Elrohir said grouchily. "For taking his necklace. His spirit is haunting us and leading us in circles."

"Don't be ridiculous, Elrohir!"

"We have seen weirder," Aragorn reminded, huddling further into the warmth of his coat.

"Alright," Elladan frowned, shaking his head. "Let's go that way," he waved his hand towards the direction that he and Legolas had been voting for before. Anything was better than nothing and they started that direction. Legolas saw Aragorn pull the necklace from his pocket, examine it carefully.

He didn't know what he believed. Things had started going all sorts of wrong when they picked that necklace up and he half thought to mention that they should just toss it aside and into the marsh.

It was midnight when Aragorn suddenly let out a cry of relief.

"Dryland!" he half sobbed and Legolas jerked out of the bored trance he had sunk into. Sure enough, the ground was growing firmer beneath his feet and there was a small hill just passed them.

Staggering onto the blessedly dry ground, he watched as Aragorn sank to the dirt. Elladan followed suit and soon all four of them were sitting there, rejoicing in not having to move their feet. For several minutes they all just laid there, breathing in deeply.

"We should build a fire, try to dry our clothes," Elladan said after a while, he rolled his head to the side, looking at Legolas who was nearest him. Legolas nodded but made no move to get up.

"We can do it in five minutes," Aragorn said, lazily waving a hand in the air and not moving.

"Uh-huh." Elrohir closed his eyes, settling into the dirt.

Legolas sighed, glancing at Elladan again. "We actually probably should. We need to scout the area as well. I would laugh, and then maybe scream, if we ended up next to the orcs again." Elladan snorted.

"Fine," he sighed, waiting for Legolas to get up first. The Mirkwood elf did so with a heavy sigh and held out his hand for the older twin to take.

"Don't do anything stupid!" Aragorn called after them as they left.

They began to search the dark land, gathering up pieces of wood to use for kindling.

"You do realize that we are only on a small island, we actually haven't left the marsh yet," Elladan whispered to Legolas a minute later. It wasn't a very big island and after walking several hundred feet, the marshy waters of the other side could be seen. Legolas nodded, his mouth drawing into a thin line.

"This is absolutely stupid," he huffed, bending down to pick up a branch and adding it to the pile in his arms. "Why can't we find a way out of this stupid marsh? It can't be that large, can it?"

"Apparently it is." Elladan swore, shaking his head. "Actually, I wonder if that emerald is cursed. Elrohir might not have been that far off the mark."

"So how do we get rid of it?"

Elladan shrugged "Well, I guess—" he stopped as Legolas pulled up short, throwing an arm out.

"There is a hut over there," he whispered, pointing. Sure enough in the dark, they could see the outline of a small little building. No lights glinted inside and several of the shingles lay scattered on the ground. There was a gaping hole on one side.

"Do you think we should go inside?" Elladan asked, but Legolas was already shaking his head.

"Not in the middle of the night. Maybe in the morning, but I for one don't feel comfortable entering. Darkness has too much strength at night."

Elladan nodded in agreement and they gave the hut a wide berth as they made their way back to the companions.

"Guess what?" Elladan called out to announce their return. "We found the perfect summer home for Legolas."

"Haha," Legolas grunted, tossing his pile of sticks onto the ground. Aragorn rolled over, glancing up at the elf with a smile on his face.

"I knew you secretly loved it here," he teased, almost ducking the elf's retaliatory smack, but Legolas wasn't a renowned archer for no reason and he winced, rubbing the back of his head.

"We found what looks like a deserted hut on the other end of the island," Elladan explained. Aragorn eye's lite up, watching as the elf began to stack the wood on the ground.

"Did you go inside?" he asked, excitement gleaming in his eyes. Legolas shook his head.

"We prefer life, thank you very much. We can go back in the morning, it isn't going anywhere." He bent down next to the wood, blowing lightly on the small fire that Elladan had started.

Elrohir was frowning. "You said island…"

"Yup," Legolas frowned, watching the flames lick at the wood. They flickered, almost dying, and he stuck a twig in, trying to get the flames to catch.

Aragorn let out a long groan, dropping onto his back again.

"I'm never visiting you here, Legolas," he mumbled, throwing an arm over his face. Legolas turned a glare on him but Aragorn wasn't looking at him.

He turned back to the flames and Aragorn peaked out from under his arm, grinning.

"We are just going to have to figure everything out in the morning," Elladan said, sitting down and pulling his knees up to his chest. "We will find out way out of here at some point. Things always look brighter in the morning."

TBC...

Being stuck in a marsh is not fun, but it will even be less fun in the next few chapters. The poor blokes. :)

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