At first, Arngeirr does not respond.  Too consumed is he by the need to eat his fill, lest his huge gentlemanly body begin to decay.  The Hunger of the Huge is not something that a huge man can take lightly.  For as long as there had been huge men and women in the Hugelands, they have battled against their mighty hungers to stay alive.  Many outsiders thought it funny when they heard the tales of the huge men and women devouring entire farms and ruining fertile land, but in the Hugelands resources were scarce.  Much of the farmlands had been destroyed by their ancestors, and there was never enough food to go around.  Because of this, huge gentlemen and gentlewomen - for the word meant much, much more to the people of the Hugelands - would travel out into the world.  If they ever returned, it would be with trade rights or vast shipments of supplies to feed the children and help raise a new generation of wandering giants.  Everything the huge gentlemen and gentlewomen did was for the sake of those who could not leave their homes; the old and the young, the sick and the weak.  All must try their best to preserve their people, and the only way to do so was to follow the path of justice.  For if they were not right and honorable men and women, they would have no hope of succeeding in their huge journeys.  So it was that men like Arngeirr and his late father Anvindr ventured forth to do good, not just abroad, but also at home.  They were no longer a burden to their families, and one day would return to help continue their proud, gentlemanly culture.  For if they did not, if only a few such men and shirked from their huge duties, then all would surely perish to hunger and disease.<br/><br/>Now, so far from home, Arngeirr had to fend for himself.  At times the Hunger of the Huge was overpowering, as it was now.  Arngeirr could do nothing until his stomach was silenced.  As the last morsel of food sank into his gullet, Arngeirr felt calm and collected once more, the Hunger of the Huge subsiding.<br/><br/>"Ah, venerable Zato," he says with a shaking voice as he stands up.  "I am ready whenever you are, gentleman monk.  Please, lead the way."