Character Analysis
George's mother is "a tall woman, with her son's twinkling hazel eyes and an air of command. Only a single streak of white in her chestnut hair revealed her to be a little more than middle-aged" (6.28). Aw, we love twinkling eyes. She's a healer, too, so she's able to help Alanna when her womanly trouble a.k.a. period shows up.
She does more than give Alanna advice on how to handle her period, though: she explains how Alanna might get pregnant and then gives her a charm against pregnancy just in case. And then, she drops some news: after touching Alanna, she gets all glum as says, "Poor lass…The Goddess has Her hand on you. You've been given a hard path to walk" (6.82). And Mistress Cooper would know, since she was trained as a priestess before she quit to start a family. (This was pre-Leaning In, apparently.)
Mistress Cooper is one of the characters who advises Alanna to accept her womanhood and make her peace with it. She's just one of those wise folks, it seems.