Black and grey tattoo of a hand with two fingers raised inside a braided rope oval tied with a knot, on the forearm, with stippled shading in the background.

Hand in a rope frame on a forearm

Traditional · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A hand with two fingers raised sits centred inside an oval frame made of braided rope, which is tied in a knot with frayed ends at the base. The hand is outlined with bold black lines and left mostly unshaded, while the background inside the rope is filled with fine stippled dots. The design is entirely in black and grey ink and is framed by the rope border, which gives it a symmetrical composition.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The snow had started before we reached the Hollin Gap, fine as flour and twice as dry, and by the time Tomas stopped on the lip of the pass I could barely see the rope between us. He lifted his right hand and raised two fingers, the old signal from his father's guiding days: two of us, the line is sound, keep coming. I answered with the same, though my glove was so stiff the gesture looked more like a man swatting a fly.

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We had tied in at the foot of the scree that morning, Tomas's knot on my harness, mine on his, the braided hemp gone grey with use. His father had taught him to leave every end long and frayed, so anyone reading the rope could tell it had been trusted. I kept my eyes on that knot as I climbed, watching the loose tails whip and settle with each step, counting them like beads.

Near the top the wind dropped and the cloud tore open, and the whole valley below lay dotted with lamplight from Ardle, a scatter of stars turned upside down. Tomas was already over the ridge, one hand still raised above the cornice. I hauled myself up the last stretch and saw that he had not been signalling to me at all but to the village, to say the pass was clear.

We walked down with the rope coiled between us, and I did not untie it until the inn door was open and the fire was going. The ends were fringed and soft, and the knot had held, as it always had, though nobody would ever know it but us.

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