Madare Azizam (I address you, my darling mother, in the style of the young women here):

I can't tell you how much I have missed you these past few months. When you first died and I came to live with Uncle Mordechai and Aunt Athalya, I was desperate with pain, but Aunt Athalya helped me cope with my grief. In fact, it was her idea that I write to you. I think about you constantly and wonder what advice you would be giving me now.

This is shocking, but Vashti is no longer our Queen! Even more unbelievable, I am! You read right: your daughter is Queen of Persia! What happened? Let me tell you…

King Ahasuerus was having one of his big drinking parties, no holds barred, when he became so enthusiastic about the Queen's beauty that he sent his eunuchs into the women's quarters to bring in the queen, to show all the men all her beauty. You know what that means! Only a concubine can enter a men's drinking bash, and then at her own risk. For a queen to enter, wearing only her crown, no less, was inviting disaster! What could the queen do but refuse – not wanting to be dishonored by being visually raped? Of course, all the courtiers were aghast that she had the audacity to refuse the king: they panicked because they thought this was an invitation for their wives to refuse their every wish.