[I'd like to pause our conversation with Mort until we've concluded our own, since it seems like one might affect the other]

"I see no reason we have to deal with the badger at all," Nin says, shaking her head. "It is only causing trouble because it was driven out of the forest by the beast. Taking care of the beast should take care of the badger as well. Moreover, leaving Pellinore to her hunt could itself cause as much damage or more as the badger. At the very least, the badger is the lesser concern right now.

"No. Our focus must be on Pellinore and her hunt for this beast, one way or the other. What I wonder is, does the beast cause destruction by its very nature, or would it calm down if no longer hunted? And why is the King hunting it? Because it was already a danger and needed to be put down, or simply because of a prophecy? You see where I'm going? 

"If the beast is hunted because it's a danger, we must help King Pellinore catch and slay it as quickly as possible to prevent even more damage. But if the beast is only a danger because it's being hunted, and it's only being hunted for sport, is the real beast not the hunter, then? You say she disquiets you. Perhaps you are not wrong to feel as such, even if you can't explain why, exactly, you should feel as you do."