Disclaimers: I do not own anything of Tolkien's. His characters and his world belong to him. I make no money from any of this. My only creations are the original characters in this story.

A/N: This story was written for the March 2006 Teitho Challenge. The challenge was that the story had to start with the sentence 'It seemed like a good idea at the time'.

I also have to say thank you to my beta, Radbooks.

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Chapter One

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," the young Ranger said, wincing as Aragorn examined the nasty gash cutting across his forehead.

"You thought it sounded like a good idea to place yourself in front of men throwing rocks?" Aragorn asked with a raised eyebrow as he cleaned out the cut. It did not seem deep enough to need stitches, but he had to clean it thoroughly to make sure it did not get infected.

"It worked, did it not, my lord?" Rumen asked Aragorn a little hesitantly. "They stopped trying to kill that man."

"They did stop," Aragorn agreed, rinsing out the wound. "Rather than killing the object of their anger, they thought they had killed a stranger. You should consider yourself lucky that they were concerned enough over this thought to refrain from throwing more rocks. Many times when people are that enraged, they do not see reason and have little concern for those who get in their way."

Rumen swallowed nervously. He had been acting on instinct when he stepped into the circle of men who were apparently stoning another man. It had not even occurred to him that they might have simply stoned him along with the unknown man. At least, it had not occurred to him until he had seen the rock flying at his head. By then, it had been far too late. When he awoke to find his Chieftain poking at a cut on his forehead, he had been so relived to be alive that he was almost grateful for the pain. But he still did not know the fate of the man he had tried to save. "I could not stand by and simply let them continue, my lord. No one deserves to die that way, no matter what crimes he may have committed. How is he, the man I tried to save?"

"He is alive," Aragorn answered, finishing up with the cut and moving to take a chair beside the bed. They were now in the home of the village's only healer. The healer was in another room, treating the man who had nearly been killed. "Though he was badly beaten, he will recover fully."

"Then I did the right thing," Rumen said in satisfaction.

"Did you not consider approaching the men and asking what they were doing, or finding the rest of us to help you to calm the situation? Why did you even consider placing yourself at the mercy of an angry mob?" Aragorn knew full well the recklessness of youth, but if Rumen was to survive, he had to start thinking things through more carefully.

Rumen gulped nervously. The Chieftain did not seem at all pleased with his actions. "I yelled out a greeting as I approached and tried to determine what was happening. They did not hear me over their own voices. When I saw what they were doing, I knew the man did not have enough time for me to gather help. My actions may not have been well thought out, but I did not have time to find a better course of action."

Aragorn sighed and stared at the young Ranger lying on the bed. Rumen had only been traveling with the Rangers for a few months. He did not have the experience to know how to handle situations like the one they had now found themselves in. Though Rumen did not yet know it, the situation was much more dire than a group of men being angry enough to kill another man, though that was serious enough. The town they had just entered was like a raging river ready to burst through a dam.