During the few weeks he was away, Reed thought Edgar had sent him on a wild chase for someone no longer in this world. Each lead they had about Melanie ended up leading him to nowhere. He went around showing a portrait of Melanie and by some luck, there were a few people who recognized her.
With each new person who recognized her, Reed and the men who traveled with him had to stop and try mapping out the order of towns Melanie had traveled to so they could figure out where she ended up. Reed was ready to give up and have someone else assigned to this job until there was someone who pointed them to a small town. Saying the woman in the portrait looked like a younger version of the scholar's wife.
Reed was surprised when he encountered a woman with similar features to Alessandra. They tried to map out what they gathered from other towns again and it made sense for Melanie to pass through the small town.
