Usual disclaimer: I am not Tolkien. But I love his work and am glad I get to enjoy his characters.

Thanks go to my Betas, chisscientist and LadyJ.

Never underestimate the power of a good Beta.

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"In Eregion long ago many Elven-rings were made, magic rings as you call them, and they were, of course, of various kinds: some more potent and some less. The lesser rings were only essays in the craft before it was full-grown, and to the Elven-smiths they were but trifles—yet still to my mind dangerous for mortals. But the Great Rings, the Rings of Power, they were perilous."

Gandalf

Chapter II: The Shadow of the Past, The Fellowship of the Ring

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The day that Anna went through the portal was a day that started like any other; as most momentous days generally do. She had walked through that particular door into the back storage room countless times and come back out again alive and unscathed. There was nothing to tell her that the door had suddenly altered its chemical or physical make-up to suddenly whisk her from one world to another. Or from one time to another—she was never actually certain about that.

Today she went through the aforesaid storage room door to get bed sheets and various other paraphernalia to change a certain gentleman's bed and take said gentleman to the showers. A task assigned to her since she had rooms 1 through 8 in the East Hall this morning.

The conversation preceding her disappearance went something like this:

"Hello, Rudy, how are you feeling today?"

"Not so bad, lovely." This said with a rakish smile that only the very old can pull off without seeming licentious.

"Wonderful. Today is Tuesday and therefore it is your shower today. Any complaints?"

"Not with you here."

Treating such conversation with the adeptness of a long time CNA, (five years gives a lot of experience) she merely smiled and was grateful that younger men didn't use lines like this on her. Add to that the fact that Rudy had some form of dementia and everything just became sweet. In a weird sort of way. Here's hoping my banter doesn't encourage him, she thought off-handedly.

"Let me take those sheets and we'll make your bed before your shower today."

Rudy waved her over to his wheelchair. She bent down, tucking stray hairs behind her ear as he kept beckoning, his expression very serious. "The elves are coming for you today."

Anna raised her eyebrows, "Elves?" She tried to keep the disbelief out of her voice.

"Yes. I need you to give the Master this ring." So saying, he held out a fairly nondescript ring with a blue stone that she was sure she could have found at any local jewelry shop.

"Rudy, you know that I can't take this," she answered. "It's against the rules."

"Tell him that I send him my regards." He definitely hadn't paid any attention to what she had just said. Instead he grabbed her left hand and tried slipping the ring onto a finger.

She pulled back, trying not to injure him. He looked really frail today. "Rudy. No."

"It is very important that he get this ring back. I am entrusting it to you, Anna. You are the only one that can return it," he said, both pleading and commanding. It was a weird combination to hear, Anna thought back later. Nevertheless, as if compelled, she returned her hand to Rudy and watched as he put the ring on her first finger. Amazingly, it fit.

"You know that I am just going to give this to the nurse so that she can give it back to your family," she said.

Rudy just smiled and patted her hand. "You can do that—after you have gotten the linens to change the bed and I have had my shower."

Anna nodded to humor him as she stood back up, stripped the bed and headed for the door.

"Anna," he called. She stopped and turned back, arms full of sheets.

"Yes?"

Rudy mumbled something at her that she couldn't quite catch.

"Pardon?"

"I just said to have a nice trip. Be sure to give that ring to the Master of Imladris."

"I will remember. Imladris, you said?"

"Yes, that's the place. I think that you will like them."

"'Them' meaning the elves?"

"Anna. Be polite," he warned.

"When am I not?" She smiled and headed out the door towards the laundry. Once she had left the room and made it a few feet along the corridor, she snorted and shook her head. That was a bit weird, she thought. That is the first time that I have heard him talk about elves. I never thought him the type to hallucinate about such things, she thought. But dementia does weird things to people.

OK, after work I need to pick up milk, celery, napa cabbage, carrots, bread...caught up in her mental grocery list, Anna didn't notice that the ring was growing a little warmer on her finger. Warmer than her skin should have made it the closer she got to the storage room.

She also failed to notice that Rudy watched from his door as she walked down the hallway. (And after she had gone in the storage room and hadn't come out in a couple of minutes, he wheeled himself down the hallway to verify that the room was indeed empty. Reassuring himself that all had gone according to plan, he decided that it was time for a nap. All this wheeling around was a bit much on an old man. He heard rumors later that Anna had gone missing, but since no one asked him directly if he knew anything about it...he told no lies. He steadfastly ignored the twinging of his conscience. She was young; she'd survive just fine. After all, he had.)

Anna headed unsuspectingly towards the fateful door. Why that storage room door? She was never to find out that just that morning, Rudy had wheeled himself out of his room and up to that very door and had done something that the nurse, Karen, witness to the event, could never figure out. There had been a slight flicker and a shimmer like a heat haze. She had ignored it because she was a firm believer in Science. It was probably only the lights flickering above Rudy's head. Karen made a mental note to have Housekeeping check on it as she walked up to Rudy and after a short, inconsequential conversation had wheeled him back to his room to await the CNA that was to bathe him. Anna, wasn't it?

Now we come back to Anna whose mind had smoothly switched gears as she dumped the sheets in the bin outside the door and headed into the laundry storage room.

Now, I need flat sheet, fitted sheet, pillowcase... And at that moment, she walked through the door.

...towels... Her heart rate suddenly skyrocketed as she realized that she wasn't in Kansas anymore—so to speak. Those large trees certainly didn't belong in the nursing home. The sudden breeze smelling of green things didn't belong there either. She immediately turned around looking for the door that she had just come through.

Nothing was there.

Anna started waving her arms in front of her. She no doubt hoped that even if her eyes were deceived that her arms would not be when they hit the door jam.

They hit...air. Anna fought the intense panic that was rising and the sudden desire to scream like a madwoman. She whipped around in a circle seeing nothing but tall, leafy trees and scattered underbrush as far as she could see, which wasn't that much, since she found that she was essentially in a shallow bowl that was probably a hundred yards or so in diameter.

Suddenly, a golden-haired man stepped out from behind a rather large tree trunk and started slowly towards her with his hands outstretched in what she later supposed was the equivalent of 'I mean you no harm'. She stood stock still for a moment, not believing anything about this situation. That is amazing hair, she randomly thought. It was followed quickly by, What in the world is he wearing?

That momentary spell of unreality dashed itself as he spoke in a tongue as golden as his hair. Sounds that she didn't recognize. At all.

It had been too much unexpected change in too short of time. Anna lost the internal battle against terror and fled screaming into the forest.