THE QUEST OF THE MAP: INTRODUCTION
"... and Master Balin would often catch a glimpse of Master Bilbo in Thorin's mausoleum, seated against the tomb of his lost friend. The young Hobbit would spend many hours studying Thror's map of Erebor in the light of sun or moon. For the Dwarves had dug a small tunnel in the ceiling above the tomb allowing sun and moonlight to embrace the tomb.
Despite the many hours Master Bilbo spend studying the old map in the light of the moon, the famed Moon-letters did not reveal it's secret up to the day it was time for the young Hobbit to return to his family and friends in his beloved Shire."
And that is the end of the story my mother used to tell me every night before I lay myself to sleep. She often told me she never minded repeating it every single day, because the sparkle in my eyes, when she spoke about the Moonletters on Thror's map, was a perfect ending for every long day in the Halls of Erebor.
I guess my growing interest for cartography and illustrations never came as a surprise to her and she always motivated and supported me in my endeavours to create my own maps of the area's around Erebor. She is a great woman, my mother, and I love her dearly.
Many a day I have spend in the Erebor Library in search of Thror's map mentioned in my mother's bedtime tales. I want so very badly to look upon it with my own eyes and study it. But it's whereabout are not mentioned in any of the Chronicles or Lectures in the Halls. It is speculated by the elders that it might be placed in the tomb of Thorin after Bilbo's departure but none can say for certain.
My mother knew I would never give up my search for the old map. One day she came to me and told me she needed to speak to me about a most urgent matter. She told me she saw the dissapointment in my eyes after each failling visit to the library. Hence she wanted to sent me on an important errand, an errand to regain a long lost legacy of the Dwarves of Erebor, a quest to regain the lost map of Thror.
She told me to travel West over the Misty Mountains and seek out Master Bilbo Baggins in the Shire, for he was the last person known to have intensely studied Thror's map. Master Baggins would be able to describe the map in detail to me, which would enable me to draw a detailed copy of the map. That copy could then be used for study and educational purposes.
And so the preparations for the Quest of the Map had started.
