The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon and in the early morning light, two people could be seen mounting horses. "What is this mission for again?" one of them asked.

"We're acquiring supplies from the city," the other horseman replied. Or horsewoman, as the case was, because both of the individuals on horses were women.

There was only one person standing on the ground and he was scowling sternly at each of the women. "Remember: All you are doing is retrieving supplies and nothing else. The city is supposedly abandoned but I don't want to take any chances. Do not camp there or anywhere nearby and leave as soon as possible." He handed the second woman a device. "This reads the radiation in the area. Most of the city should be safe, but long term exposure may lead to consequences."

"Believe me," she replied. "I am quite aware. I've treated more than a couple people for radiation sickness." He only nodded a reply. It was too early for any type of lengthy conversation. With that, the women set off for their destination.

By midday, the landscape had begun to change drastically. Where there had once been trees and grass there was now almost nothing left alive; the occasional insect would skitter across the dry earth, but there wasn't anything else - not even a weed - in sight. It wasn't long before they reached their destination which turned out to be a nearly level city. The few buildings that were left standing were misshapen and incredibly structurally unstable; a bomb had clearly hit this city as some point or another. "Well, it looks like we've run into some luck," the dark-haired woman said with a smile, as she pushed her dark glasses up the bridge of her nose. "The hospital is still standing. Plus, radiation levels are still safe."

"Whatever you say, Doctor Belov," the blonde woman replied.

"Thank you, General Belov." At this, both sisters cracked smiles at each other.

"How long will it take you to raid the hospital?" Ricki, the blonde one, asked.

"I don't know. It could take an hour or two."

Ricki sighed irritably. "Sage, could you possibly hurry it up?"

Her sister huffed a little haughtily. "The only reason I will 'hurry it up', is if the radiation levels spike for some reason or another. We need the supplies back home. The state of our supposed hospital is absolutely atrocious – especially the state of the generator. I never know if we'll have electricity through the night! Isn't there anything we can do about it?" she complained as they took the abandoned streets towards the hospital.

"No, there isn't. Trust me, the best people are on generator duty, and there is nothing more that they can do."

By now they had reached the hospital and Sage quickly went about trying to gather various medications and supplies that she imagined could be useful under any circumstances whatsoever and had filled a somewhat large bag with everything she had managed to get her hands on. "Are you done yet?" Ricki asked impatiently.

"Yes -" Sage began, but stopped abruptly when she saw a staircase leading down into the basement of the hospital. She glanced quickly at the radiation levels, noticing something odd. "Ricki, can you come here for a moment?" Her sister quickly walked over with a curious look on her face. "Will you come down there with me?"

Ricki gripped a few of the many guns that she had brought along with them. "Don't you have all the supplies you need?" she asked, a gleam of doubt in her eyes. "Would it even be safe?"

"That's the thing: there is absolutely no radiation down there. There may be some type of shielding and I just want to see what's down there. Whatever's there may have survived the blast from the bomb fairly well." With that, Sage began to descend down the staircase, her sister protectively following her.

What was there when they touched the bottom surprised them: the only thing there was a strange device in the middle of the room, which neither of them, with all their life experiences, could possibly identify. It was quite simply the strangest thing they had ever seen.

Sage eagerly began investigating the machine with a scientist's eye. "It's so weird, Ricki. There is almost no trace of radiation down here. Remarkably low levels, considering we are practically at ground zero." Sage, unlike Ricki, did not feel anything at all ominous about the basement. Ricki, put simply, felt as if the two of them did not belong in that basement.

Ricki reluctantly stayed with her sister, her eyes darting around the room, just as Sage began to touch the machine. "Come on, Sage. There's nothing down here, so let's go."

She roughly yanked her sister, causing Sage to bump the machine and the lights on it to flash.

Instantly, they were no longer safe inside the basement of the hospital, but trying to grab a foothold in seawater, as a storm brewed around them. As they struggled to keep their heads above the water, their feet found ground. Just as this happened, they felt themselves jerked out of the water, by strong hands and pulled onto land. It was dark outside, probably nighttime, and both of them were simply too dazed to understand what had happened to them.


Gandalf the Grey had had a very pleasant couple of days. He had recently convinced Thorin Oakenshield that now was the time to reclaim Erebor, if ever a time existed. He had also managed to get his hands on some excellent pipeweed - which he was now smoking - and he was currently headed towards Rivendell to spend the night before he made his way to the Shire, where he would undoubtedly find his burglar. Yes, it was indeed a very pleasant feeling.

That evening, as he sat and ate dinner with Elrond, he revealed his destination to the elf lord. "Tomorrow morning I set off for the Shire. It should be a rather uneventful journey." This was one of the few times Gandalf had dined with Elrond and could actually make an entire dinner of pleasant conversation. That is, unless Elrond brought up Erebor, for some unknown reason.

"Why are you headed to the Shire?" Elrond asked. There was an edge to his voice that Gandalf did not understand. Why would Elrond - why would anybody? - be concerned with the Shire?

"I am there to visit a relative of an old friend," the old wizard replied, choosing not to reveal his true intentions involved thirteen dwarves and hobbit going on a journey to Erebor.

"Perhaps you might do me a favor while you are there?" Elrond's eyebrows rose questioningly.

"Perhaps," Gandalf nodded, intending for Elrond to go on.

"There are two women who currently reside there whose residence there I am extremely curious about."

"Why would two women be living in the Shire? And why are you so interested in them, might I ask?" Elrond had piqued Gandalf's interest.

"You see, Gandalf, a very strange event occurred a few months ago in the west, where the land meets the sea. From the reports I have heard from a few elves who were there, a storm began to form extremely quickly. In fact, it was almost as if it appeared out of nowhere and it disappeared in a similar fashion. During this storm, two elves noticed something in the water and went down to investigate. It was the two women, neither of whom had been sighted before the storm. What is even stranger than this is the fact that neither of them knew any tongue which the elves there could speak. The women began speaking in a strange language of their own, which sounded nothing like the elves had ever heard. After a number of weeks, once they were sufficient at the common tongue and some elvish, the two were sent to live in the Shire which they chose because it most resembled their homeland – a land I have never heard of. And so, if you could please try to obtain more information from them, it would be very helpful in determining just what happened to them and what their appearance means."

"What land did they claim to be from?"

"I believe they called it 'America'. A strange name, if you ask me. To make matters worse, neither of them seemed to comprehend the existence of elves, or any sentient creature besides men. Apparently, they were absolutely aghast at the sight of elves and hobbits."

"Most would be aghast at the sight of hobbits, my dear lord Elrond," Gandalf said with a smile.

"They would be easy enough to locate and I am asking you do this as a favor for me. Would you?"

"Alright," Gandalf replied. In truth, even if Elrond hadn't asked Gandalf to go investigate, after hearing the elf lord's story, he would have visited the two women anyway. "Do you know their names?"

The elf lord nodded. "They were strange names - indeed befitting strange people - but I believe they were called Ricki and Sage.