Small fine line tattoo of two crossed botanical sprigs forming a V shape on the upper arm, in grey ink.

Fine line sprig pair on upper arm

Fine line · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

The photograph shows a small tattoo of two thin sprigs with side shoots, crossing at their stems to form a V shape. The linework is delicate and even, with the ink in a single soft grey tone. The tattoo sits centrally on the upper arm against a plain skin background, with a blurred bakery shelf behind.

Fine line Botanical Upper arm Sprig Branch Twig

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ioan, the frost came early to Harrowgate this year and took the rosemary by the postern gate, so I have only two sprigs left worth sending. I have crossed them at the stem and bound them with the blue thread from Mrs Pell's loom, the way you showed me when we were girls, so they will not come apart in the post. Don't laugh at the shape. It is the best I can manage with fingers this cold.

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The castle is emptier than when Father kept the kitchen. The great hall has no roof now, only the sky and its gulls, and the bakehouse ovens sit in the old undercroft like shut mouths. I still walk the herb beds each morning with the basket. The bees have found the one thyme patch that survived the siege, and the village cats hunt mice under the stair where the chapel bell used to hang.

I keep thinking about the bread you used to carry up the hill, still warm under your coat, and how the whole length of the wall smelled of it. You said the castle would never fall while someone baked on the hill. The walls fell anyway, but the bakers kept at it down in the village, and I think that is the sort of thing you meant.

Send word when the carrier comes through. Keep one sprig on the sill and let the other go to the river, as Father always did with the first cutting. Your loving sister, Nell.