Summary

Nimona brings word that all the rioters have been locked up, the news channels are being censored, and that two people have died of illness. This stuns Ballister, who is ready to give up on villainy. He says everything changed when Nimona showed up. He realizes that Nimona has made up the entire story about the witch at the bottom of the hole. Ballister wants to know who, and what Nimona really is. Nimona becomes angered and leaves. Ballister then contacts Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer, asking her about her knowledge of shapeshifters. It would appear that Nimona is both a shapeshifter and a doppelganger. The story of Gloreth is related, who slayed just such a monstrous shapeshifting beast. Meredith goes on to contend that shapeshifters could surely be genetically modified, and that any shapeshifter making itself known must have a reason for doing so. Ballister...