(ska: Lady Elsbeth Lawrence)

I knew Menya for over 17 years. I met her in Toronto through the SCA. We shared some crazy times, as well as many quiet, intimate ones.

I knew she was sick. I tried to stay in touch with her over the years as I moved around the U.S., and I feel terrible that I failed to do so recently. I wish she had known how much I loved her, missed her and admired her.

On my last night at Pennsic XXX, when the Baron of Septemptria announced flatly that Mistress Rhiannon was dead, I was not prepared for how shocked I would feel. I sobbed on the shoulder of a kind lady who had known her even longer than I (bless you, lady, I did not even have the sense to ask your name), then I sat by the lake - almost on the exact spot where she and I once spent a night at our first Pennsic giggling and talking - and wept out my grief and my relief that her suffering had ended.

I will miss her grace. I will miss her music. I will miss her intelligence and her sharp wit. I will miss the way her eyes would light up with mischief whenever the Imps' Guild was mentioned. I will miss brushing her hair. The world is a much colder place.

Rhiannon (for that is the name I called you), please forgive me for not saying good-bye.