TWWM: Embalmer. Witch. Seer. [Polaris Prompt 1]

CW: death, bodies, funerals, implied assault, blood, wounds, broken bones

I wrapped the body, tearing the fabric with a shhhhick. "This is what I do. I wrap the bodies. I prepare them. I embalm them, and I send them on their way, drachmas and all. I live on the outskirts of my city - I am a witch, a herbal magician, a priestess, a scapegoat, a seer.
This is not true. I embalm the bodies. My work is hard, my day is long. Others refuse to touch me, calling me "cursed, evil, and wicked". My company is the sea breeze, its gifts of salts, and the bodies. They bothered me, at first, these people without life and a soul. They bothered me, coming to me in caskets dropped off in the night by tearful families and disgusted neighbors. Cloaked assassins and tattooed mercenaries, young and old came to my doorstep.
"Take them to Astéri's doorstep," I'd hear, muffled from my bedroom. "Knock over her pitchers and I'll give you my drachmas," children would dare in the night. They do not see me as a person, only as a myth, a freak, a legend. Once, this place was full of people like me. People who knew how to care for the dead.
In my memories, I am a child again, I am free and young and happy. My mother braids my long black hair, speckled with early white streaks, a mark of our family. She kisses my pale and rounded nose, and I go out to play. The neighbor's family wears colorful vests of diluted reds, oranges, yellows. They are a comfort to me, and I grab my friend's hand.
He is a boy my age, dark hair and dark eyes, a satchel full of bread and nuts banging against his hip as we run and play. After many years of my life, I can no longer remember his name, only the way his laugh and mine tangled like vines, sprouting beautiful blooms. We traveled to the city every day, and wandered through market. More often than not we came to visit the horse market.
I remember he would stand by as I pressed my forehead to the snout of my favorite mare, one who never sold because of her age. She was black with a white blaze, and I longed to own her. I think she loved me mostly because I fed her though.
I recall more than that however, fall days spent swimming with my friend in the ocean that crashed below our homes. We dove and swam and played - we belonged in that water." Astéri paused to take a breath. She clipped the bandages around the body and the salt that packed it, and then stood creakily.
Her body was sore, although she was just a young woman. Sitting in front of her table, staring at her in wide eyed wonder, were two children, brave enough to come into her house and hear her story, after fetching medicine for their grandmother. Astéri stared out the window for a long moment. "Children, it's getting dark. Go to your home and sleep well."
They scrambled up from her table, eyes sparkling and already, she could see the two little ones plotting about what they were going to tell their friends. Astéri smiled and watched them head away, and then she blew out her oil lamp, and headed to sleep herself.
Hours later, the sun kissed the horizon and Astéri woke to a sharp banging at her door. She stumbled away from her cozy blanket, and opened it tentatively. A woman sat on her doorstep, leg twisted at an odd angle and forehead trickling blood. Astéri gasped, tucked her streaked hair behind her shoulders, and picked the smaller woman up. She was badly hurt, whimpering at the pain of her wounds.
Despite the early hour, Astéri quickly took in the woman's state, and knew her course of action. She splinted and set the leg, applied a numbing salve to lessen the pain, and bandaged the woman's head. When all was said and done, she propped the stranger up on a pillow, and covered her with a blanket.
Both were quickly asleep, and it was only when Astéri woke up to the creak of her door opening that she realized something was off. The stranger from her dawn awakening was trying to hobble out of the door. Astéri hobbled in front of her, picked her back up, and sat her down on the work table.
"Where are you going, stranger?"
"Let me out." The tiny woman shook, curly red hair and freckled skin flushing with rage.
"I am not keeping you captive, but you are not well enough to leave, what is your name?"
The stranger crossed her arms, sweat beading along her brow. She winced, and dropped the act to grab her leg. "Name's Skiá. Please help." Astéri quickly grabbed the salve again, and the woman- Skiá- sighed with relief. "Now," she leaned forward, hand on the knee of her good leg. "Who are you? Why is your hair like that? How did I get here?"
Astéri sat down with a sigh, cradling the jar of salve in her lap. "My name is Astéri, I am a embalmer, witch, and seer. At least that's how the townsfolk label me. My hair has been like this since birth, a symbol of my family lineage. As for you, I woke up to a knock on my door and you with it."
Skiá leaned forward, brows furrowed and her hands clasped. She dropped her head into her hands and choked back a quiet sob. "I know who did this, I know what this was," Astéri placed a hand gently on the smaller woman's back, until she shook it off. "Don't touch me!" She whispered, words dripping with thorns.
Astéri was used to being treated this way- she didn't let it phase her. "May I show you to a room you can stay in? I will house and feed you for free as long as you do not leave before you are healed." Skiá nodded, angry tears still welling up. The taller woman guided her into a room, small but homey. A fireplace sat in the corner with a well stocked basket, a bed with a handmade quilt, and a pitcher of water for washing.
The smaller woman shut the door in Astéri's face, until a few hours later, where with a small knock, Skiá slowly welcomed her in. "I've brought food and salve for you," Astéri placed down a plate of steaming chicken and beans, and half a loaf of crusty bread and a pot of honey beside it. She handed Skiá the jar of salve and made to leave, before the red haired stranger grabbed her arm.
"Wait." She ducked her head, fidgeting with the cork of the jar. "I'm sorry. Thank you." Astéri gently pulled the other into her arms, releasing her after a few moments, when Skiá hugged her back. With a kind nod, and no other words, Astéri let the other woman rest.