Miranda recognizes the mud-formed faces rising outside Portia's farm. They are Erma Lante, Meshner, Rani, Lortisse, Baltiel, and others, along with nonhuman shapes, and Miranda realizes they are not merely strangers or victims but fragments connected to Miranda's own past.

This recognition breaks Miranda's sense of self. Miranda remembers that the human identity called Miranda is only a surface layer over something older, collective, and predatory: the infection or alien organism that took on many faces, especially Erma Lante's, through long ages on Nod. Seeing the figures with human eyes makes Miranda understand herself as monstrous.

Miranda also recognizes the contradiction in Miranda's life among humans. Humans accepted Miranda and allowed Miranda to share in their broader civilization without being absorbed, but Miranda now feels Miranda has failed them, though Miranda does not yet understand how. The mud figures at the window become evidence that something deeply wrong on Imir is tied to Miranda's own nature.

Portia calls out in alarm as Miranda refocuses on the room and sees Liff at the door. Miranda can only think that the danger outside is already inside with them. Despite Portia's warning, Liff opens the door.