ELEGY.

When I first started out in fandom, and especially in *slash* fandom, there were a few writers whose work impressed me to the point of near-paralysis. seperis was one.

thamiris was another.

Other people have spoken about her graciousness, her across-the-board kindness, her mastery of language and her lyricism and wit.

I remember nerodi's Historical Challenge, back in the day, and how I decided to write my ( okay, let's admit it, probably *permanently* stalled ) Medieval CLex. I remember tying myself up in knots when I heard that Thamiris was writing in the same time period. I moaned about how there was no way I could compete with her amazing writing and how much I worried that my story would look like a pathetic imitation of hers.

Tham wrote back and eased my mind when she could just as easily have ignored me and I would have been none the wiser. She always seemed willing to reach out a virtual hand and forge a connection when the simpler thing, the more commonly done thing, would have been to let the moment pass.

I read in her LJ last summer about the cancer that ultimately has taken her life, and I was shocked and appalled just like everyone else. Still, I thought, there was no way she would actually die. She was too brilliant, too powerful, too eloquent, too magical. She would keep Death at bay with her words and her wit and her charm, and we would bask in her reflected light for years to come.

And now this brilliant, powerful, eloquent, magical light has blown out, and the world is a darker place for it.

( Obituary. )