Black and white design of a lotus flower with wildflowers, crescent moons, an eye motif and triangles inside a circular border, with no body placement shown.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Lotus and crescent moons in a circular frame

Botanical · Black and grey · Flash

A large lotus flower sits at the centre of a circular frame, with sprigs of small wildflowers and a star rising above it. Crescent moons curve either side of the lotus, and a dotted eye motif, triangles and a row of small triangles sit beneath it. The design uses crisp white linework and stippled shading on a dark textured background, with no colour ink.

Botanical Geometric Lotus Wildflower Crescent moon Eye Triangle Circle Star

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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The pond behind the mill has frozen again, so I've been walking up to the reservoir instead, where the water lilies stay open at dusk even though the season is over. I took Father's ledger with the brass corners and counted the crescents scratched into the sluice wall, one for every night the moon is thin enough to cut your thumb on.

Three nights ago a light came down behind the weir and landed in the reeds. I went with the lantern expecting a fallen star, but it was only a wet knot of bluebells and campion pulled loose from the bank, tangled around a lily that had no business blooming in October. The petals were pale as paper, and the centre had a ring of dark dots, as if someone had pressed ink through a pin. In the middle of the bloom sat a single open eye, looking at me the way Mrs Holt used to look at my sums when I got them wrong.

I didn't tell anyone. I took a triangle of slate from the old roof and set it on the bank, point down, the way Father set the stones under the gates so the water knew which way to go. By morning the lily had closed and the slate was gone, and in its place a second crescent had appeared on the wall, sharp as a clipped nail.

I think the moon is paying what it owes. I'll bring the ledger when I come at Christmas, and you can tell me whether I've counted right.

Yours, Mab