The medicine woman is a friend of Beatrice’s in the Saxon town where she and Axl stay in on the first night of their journey. Beatrice goes to the medicine woman to ask about a pain she’s having in her side, but the medicine woman tells her it’s just a ache associated with aging. Although this explanation seems reasonable, neither Beatrice nor Axl are very comforted by it and choose to go see Father Jonus shortly thereafter.