Our beloved household member – and my mother – Esther passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 6th, 2025 of naturalcauses.

This has been a hard one to write. Esther was more than family to me – she was a force of nature, a wellspring of stubborn wisdom, a revolutionary wrapped in linen and laughter. It’s taken time to find the words that even begin to do her justice.

Esther’s benedicion ceremony elevating her to Saint of Daos will be held at An Tir West War, on Saturday, July 5th just two days after what would have been her 79th birthday. You are warmly invited to join us in remembering her life, her stories, and her patronage.

Esther saw herself, rightly, as a dispenser of wisdom from atop the hill – sometimes literally, sometimes metaphorically. She was a fierce champion of women, a lifelong geek, and a proud nerd who wielded books like weapons. There was always one in her purse, no matter where she was going.

She loved her girls – both the ones she birthed and the many she adopted along the way. If you were a woman with fire in your heart, Esther saw you. She made you feel part of something. She made you feel seen.

In House Daos, she was a legend – not for swordplay or ceremony, but for her supernatural talent in bartercraft. Esther would wander off from camp with nothing but two random thrifted books and return with jewels, gowns, and treasures you’d swear came from a royal merchant. “I’m going shopping,” she’d say, and Daos would watch in awe. No one else could do what she did. No one else will.

She joined Daos formally in 2013, but began camping with us long before, in 2006. She loved watching the antics of the household, laughing at the chaos, and offering guidance if asked (and sometimes when it wasn’t). Her advice was often excellent, though she didn’t always follow it herself. Stubborn to a fault, if she thought you were trying to boss her around, she’d do the exact opposite just to prove she could.

Esther was powerful. Esther was maddening. Esther was wise, hilarious, infuriating, and utterly irreplaceable.

She was ours.

Join us this July as we celebrate her life and name her among the Saints of Daos. Bring your stories. Bring your laughter. Bring your cloak; she’d tell you to, even if you didn’t want to.

With love and memory,
Eden the Mad
Grand Inquisitor of House Daos