City of Reality/Headscratchers

Why did Hinto use an illusion spell?

 * Hinto's true identity is revealed when she's under a field to dispel illusions... but Hinto's main power is transformation. Why didn't she just transform herself? An artifact of her guilt? ...but her phobia of transformation isn't extreme enough to apply to herself, is it?
 * Of course it is. She's decided that all transformations must be reversed. She's dedicated her life to it. Why use one on herself?

How does the forest witch perform her transformations?

 * We learn from Denny that any directly-influencing magic requires target's content, so that basically only those willing to be transformed can be transformed (although, perhaps, transformation can be forced on someone through willpower contest... we haven't seen it yet). Hinto Ama is a big exception, because her magic ignores that rule. Then how does the forest witch perform her transformations with such ease? Is she another exception? Or maybe in the Mists magical rules differ a bit...
 * Considering the heroes didn't know how to prevent magic attacks, and being a very powerful witch, it could just be that they weren't able to out-will an attack.
 * When the Mists invade the city, lots of people are transformed against their will (and seemingly at random), so I think this is a case of the Mists work differently.
 * The huge crystal behind her house, THAT'S THE SOURCE, the crystal that fell onto magic world and gave it it's magic. When the rogue SUEPR agents try to destroy the source and are stopped the witch is seen sleeping on top of the crystal, reinforcing that it is the one that was behind her house. This means that she is probably a supremely powerful witch to hang around such unstable magic, is supercharged by the source since she has been living right next to it since who knows when, is directly channeling the power and will of the source in some way with her insanity being a byproduct evidenced by her awareness of the replay device, or any degree or combination of that.