11. Every day Mordecai walked back and forth near the area where the king’s women lived. He did this because he wanted to find out how Esther was, and what was happening to her.
12. Before a young woman could take her turn to go in before King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments—six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics.
13. When her time came to go in to the king, she could choose to wear or take whatever she wanted from the women’s living area.
14. In the evening the young woman would go to the king’s palace. And in the morning she would return to another area where the king’s women lived. Then she would be placed under the care of a man named Shaashgaz. He was the king’s eunuch in charge of the slave women. She would not go back to the king again unless he was pleased with her. Then he would call her by name to come back to him.