During her convalescence after returning from the Eregion expedition (see The Nature of the Catastrophe), Helcequen had gathered together a number of small reports, each one of little consequence on it’s own. This was the domain of the scholar of course .. seeing patterns in events and drawing the bigger picture.
But first a little background.. One of Helcequen’s passions is Cartography, particularly studying older maps and drawings, specifically in order to see how the world had changed and what of historical significance still existed. Much had been lost but a lot remained that could possibly be re-discovered.
This then is how the first inkling of ‘The Frozen Path’ came to Helce .. comparing a fragment of a very old map with the outline of the world as it is known today and noting an anomaly .. something odd marked .. too linear to be natural .. it could have been nothing but a mere doodle of the original owner but somehow it looked more deliberate than that!
The seed this placed in Helce’s mind grew into an Ivy which linked all the other findings in the line of dot to dot that drew the bigger picture. There was a potential threat to Imladris which had to be looked into as a matter of urgency and if proven would be grave news for many others, not just her Elven kindred.
