Epic Tale - Chapter 2 - Part 3

The boy's tattoo was a treasure map, Lyra was sure. She could recognize the outline of a part of an island with a dashed line and a giant X on it. Sadly, with all those gabs in it, it was impossible to tell which island was displayed. Also, there were other curls which could be other islands, but they weren't complete, too.
The map was surrounded by ornaments, lots and lots of them.
It was the day after the feat and the child was still in the infirmary, where Lyra and Chrystal carefully copied every single line so they could study them later on.
Also, Abbey was there and showed the boy how to draw. It had been Linda's idea, but since Frederic didn't permit her mawcaw to enter, the ship's artist sulked somewhere on the deck.

Omega nudged her softly. "'lo Omega.", Linda muttered and started petting the wolf. "May I join you?", she heard Angel's voice.
"Sure!", Linda smiled.
The seraph looked over the girl's shoulder to see what she had been drawing. It was a picture of the little boy playing with her mawcaw.
"Frederic won't let you see him either?", Angel asked softly.
"You aren't allowed in there, too?", Linda was surprised. With a weak smile, Angel pointed at her wings.
"No wings or feathers allowed.", she said.
"Aye, that's what he told me, too. But I didn't want to leave my mawcaw all alone." Linda sighed.
"Why are you two making faces as long as a fiddle? It's such a beautiful day today." Riddle suddenly interrupted.
"We aren't allowed to see the child, because he is apparently afraid of wings.", Linda answered.
Riddle shrugged her shoulders.
"The he should make the long face since he misses two wonderful persons as you. Not the other way round."
"But he is afraid of me...", Angel whispered.
"I bet he only needs to get used to the new surroundings." Riddle smiled brightly.
Angel was about to answer, but Linda was faster and wondered:
"Why aren't you at the infirmary and try to cheer him up?"
"Believe it or not, but I can't cope with children.", Riddle laughed.

After a while, Lyra returned to her cabin and began to search for a hint which island the tattoo referred to.
It took Crystal quite a while before she had copied all of the ornaments. But it didn't strike her until Abbey mentioned the patience the child did have.
He didn't even seem to be nervous about strangers staring at the ink on his body, that was almsot everywhere.
When Crystal left, she saw Abbey picking the boy up to carry him in her arms. The boy showed no resistance, but almost the opposite.
"Where are you taking him?", the archive wondered.
"I'll take him to the kitchen. I bet he's hungry. Also, Frederic said he's healthy, so there is no need for him to stay here.", Abbey answered and as she walked away, Crystal was sure she heard the chef humming a lullaby.

Hours of searching through books later, the archive went over to Aslansa's cabin, carrying paper filled with the tattoo copy.
"I'm sorry to bother you.", Crystal began as soon as the door opened, "But I need your help with this." Almost instantly, Aslansa's table was covered with written papers.
He picked up one of the sheets and looked at it.
"Are these the strange tattoo?", he asked and Crystal answered in her famous way: "Indeed." and added:
"I am sure those are letters or hieroglyphs of some sort. They keep reappearing once in a while but I can't make out a certain pattern. Also, none of these symbols are contained in any of my books and so I had the idea of asking you-"
"Because I might know some of these?", Aslansa ended her sentence and was rewarded with another "Indeed."
"Have you asked Leelu if this is some sort of arcane writing?"
"Not yet. I looks more like a language of its own to me than arcane runes.", Crystal answered.
They stared at the papers in silence.

After a while, Aslansa muttered: "I am sure I have seen something similar to them before, but I can't recall where nor when."
"Maybe before you where a pirate?", Crystal suggested.
"I think they were in a book...", the demon said slowly while carefully digging for ancient memories.
"Maybe a spell book."
"It was a language, I think... but none spoken by demons..."
Suddenly Crystal had an idea.
"Do angels have a language of their own?", she asked.
"There is only one way to know for sure.", Aslansa grinned and the two of them went on deck to find Angel at her favorite spot, watching the afternoon life on deck.
"Angel, can you help us with this?",the archive asked and handed Angel one of the paper sheets.
"What is this?", she asked and Crystal explained:
"Those symbols were tattooed on the child you and Sparky found. They are all over his body and I don't know what those are supposed to mean. I already asked Aslansa and we thought, maybe you can read them."
Angel stared at the paper.
"I have seen such symbols.", she finally said but added: "My teacher used to write and read books filled with them. Sadly, I don't know what they mean."
"Is there no way you could find out what is written there?", Crystal asked, no showing any sign of disappointment.
"I have an idea..", Alsansa saaid carefully and pointed at Angel's neck.
"No! I am not going to call him!", Angel snapped. Crystal was confused.
"Who?", she asked but was ignored by Aslansa and Angel.
"It's our only way to know what those characters mean.", Aslansa said.
"I won't do it."
"Don't be so stubborn, Angel, please."
Aslansa's words hurt Angel a lot. She wasn't trying to be stubborn, but after what happened recently,  it changed her. Of all people, she believed that he would understand how she felt. Angel sighed and said softly, "There has to be another way."
"Who?", Crystal tried again but nobody answered her.
"Why do you want to know what's written there, anyway?", Angel asked.
"It's the only hint we have to know where the child is from and what happened to him." Aslansa stated.
Angel bit her lip and it was obvious she was fighting inside.
Finally she gave in.
"This writing better be worth this.", she muttered. Angel wrapped her hand around the ring and called for the dark angel Patience in her mind: "Patience, I need to talk with you."