It is a scene Myanmar's ruling generals are unlikely to see played out for themselves: As a convoy of trucks carrying relief supplies, led by Buddhist monks, passed through storm-devastated villages, hungry children and homeless mothers bowed in supplication and respect.

"When I see those people, I want to cry," said Sitagu Sayadaw, 71, one of Myanmar's most respected senior monks.

Recently, people who had taken shelter at monasteries or gathered on roadsides waiting for aid to arrive were being displaced again, this time by the junta, which wants them to stop being an embarrassment to the government and return to their villages "for reconstruction." UN officials said Friday that refugees were also being evicted from government-run camps.

"In my entire life, I have never seen a hospital. I don't know where the government office is. I can't buy anything in the market because I lost everything to the cyclone," said Thi Dar. "So I came to the monk."

Nay Lin, 36, a volunteer doctor at the Kun Wan clinic, one of the six emergency clinic shelters Sitagu has opened in the delta, said: "Our patients suffer from infected wounds, abdominal pains and vomiting. They also need counseling for mental trauma, anxiety and depression."

Since the cyclone, the Burmese have become even closer to the monks while their alienation from the junta grows. This bodes ill for the government, which brutally cracked down on thousands of monks when they took to the streets last September appealing to the generals to improve conditions for the people.

Village after storm-hit village, it is clear who has won people's hearts.

Monasteries in the delta - those still standing after the storm - were clogged with refugees. People went there with donations or as volunteers. Monasteries that served as religious centers, orphanages and homes for the elderly were now also shelters for the homeless.

"The monks' role is more important than ever," said Ar Sein Na, 46, a monk in the delta village of That Kyar. "In a time of immense suffering like this, people have nowhere to go except to monks."

Kyi Than, 38, said she had traveled 25 kilometers by boat to Sitagu's camp.

"Our village monk died during the storm. I felt so good today having my first chance to talk to a monk since the storm. Monks are like parents to us," she said. "The government wants us to shut up, but monks listen to us."

"Meditation cannot remove this disaster. Material support is very important now," Sitagu said. "Now in our country, spiritual and material support are unbalanced."

However, like other senior monks here he must strike a careful balance. He has the moral duty to speak out on behalf of his suffering people but he must also protect his social programs and hospitals, which provide free medical care to the destitute in a country whose government views such private undertakings as a reproof.

But, speaking at his shelter as an afternoon monsoon rain drummed against the roof, Sitagu sounded frustrated with the government.

"In my country, I cannot see a real political leader. General Than Shwe's 'Burmese way to democracy?"' he said, referring to the junta's top leader. "What is it?"

Still, a 40-year-old monk at Sitagu's camp said that "monks are very angry" about the government's recent move to evict refugees from monasteries, roadside huts and other temporary shelters, even while the state-run media are filled with stories of government relief efforts. "The government doesn't want to show the truth."

A young monk in the Chaukhtatgyi Paya monastery district in Yangon predicted trouble ahead. "You will see it again because everyone is angry and everyone is jobless," said the monk, who said he joined the September "saffron revolution" and had a large gash over his right eye from a soldier's beating to show for it.

A monk from Mon State in southern Myanmar, who was visiting the delta to assess the damage and arrange an aid shipment, said: "For the government, these people are no more than dead animals in the fields."

The interdependence between monks and lay people is age-old. Monks receive alms - food, medicine, clothes, cash to buy books - from the laity. In return, they offer spiritual comfort. In villages without government schools, a monastic education is often the only one available for children.

"There is a relationship of reciprocity between monks and the lay people," said Desmond Chou, a Burmese-born scholar of comparative religion in New Delhi. "If a fire breaks out in a Myanmar village, it is usually the monks, not firefighters, who arrive first to rescue the people."

Related:

Doctors Without Borders Providing Aid in Myanmar and China.

Anger Grows over Myanmar Aid Block.

Myanmar Disaster And The Human Tragedy of Global Capitalism.

Dalai Lama Offers Support to Myanmar Monks.

Related:

Amur Leopard Near Extinction.

.. The areas hit by the cyclone make up half of the irrigated farmland in Myanmar—which had produced 65 percent of Myanmar's rice. Millions of people who survived are now facing hunger, disease and lack of shelter.

There is tremendous wealth, resources, and technology in the world that could be used to respond to this disaster. There is no shortage of people with skills and compassion that could be mobilized to help. But clearly, this is not happening.

To understand the situation in Myanmar today you have to examine two interpenetrating contradictions. One is the relations between the world imperialist system and Myanmar as a poor country oppressed and dominated by global capitalism. The other dynamic is the geostrategic importance of Myanmar to imperialism and the rivalry between different capitalist countries in the region. These larger factors have deeply influenced the extent and character of the destruction caused by the cyclone, as well as the rescue and relief efforts.

Natural disasters do not “discriminate”—people all over the world are hit by tornados, hurricanes, and earthquakes. But different people and different countries are not affected equally.

We live in a hugely lopsided world where a handful of rich, imperialist countries dominates the rest of the planet. The U.S. sits at the top of a global capitalist system driven and shaped by the maximization of profit. The majority of people live in poor countries oppressed and dominated by imperialism and by social-economic structures that reflect and reinforce the interests of local elites who are subordinate to imperialism. Development of these countries has been stunted and distorted by imperialism. And all this profoundly affects the capacity and ability of governments and people to respond to a natural disaster.

As Debarati Guha-Sapir, Director of the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters in Brussels, said: “The villages are in such levels of desperation — housing quality, nutritional status, roads, bridges, dams — that losses were more determined by their condition rather than the force of the cyclone.”

The official storyline says: Myanmar is run by a bunch of dictators who chose to isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

Reality: Myanmar society is repressive and relatively closed off from the outside world. The reactionary military regime seeks to maintain power and control society through brutal force and by limiting contact with the rest of the world. But this is not why the U.S. criticizes Myanmar.

What the U.S. really means when it says Myanmar has “isolated” itself is that Myanmar has not fully opened its doors to U.S. imperialism. The military regime has not been completely pliable, compliant, and subservient to the United States. And now it has refused to accept aid from the U.S. that has all kinds of conditions and potential “strings attached”—such as Bush’s insistence that Myanmar open its borders to U.S. officials, aid workers and military personnel.

U.S. sanctions on Myanmar (that began in 1997 and have since been extended) ban new investments in the country and prohibit imports into the U.S. from Myanmar. The U.S. says it maintains these sanctions because of human rights abuses. But in fact, this U.S. “isolation” of Myanmar is aimed at undermining and destabilizing the government and creating conditions to bring to power a regime more subservient to the United States.

Historically and up to today, Myanmar’s development has been conditioned by its integration into and subordination to the global system of imperialism.

Myanmar has the world's tenth largest gas reserves. It has been producing natural gas since the 1970s. Today, gas exports are Myanmar's most important source of national income.

In the 1990s Myanmar granted gas concessions to foreign companies from France and Great Britain. Later Texaco and Unocal (now absorbed into ChevronTexaco) gained rights to Myanmar’s gas as well.

In 2005 other countries in the region, including China, Thailand, and South Korea invested in Myanmar’s oil and gas industry.

In 1996 a human rights suit was filed against the American-based Unocal Corp. A group of villagers accused Unocal of using forced labor conscripted by Myanmar soldiers. Villagers were raped, murdered, and brutally relocated during the construction of a $1.2 billion gas pipeline to Thailand, started in 1990.

The suit, which Unocal settled in 2004, brought to light the kind of horrible crimes that were being committed by a consortium of foreign companies, including Unocal, all of which were receiving support and protection from the military regime.

Beyond the interest of imperialism in profiting off the resources and people in Myanmar there is the geostrategic importance of this in the world. And this is a big factor in how the U.S. and various international forces look at their relationship with Myanmar and how they have responded to the current disaster.

.. .. ..

“The U.S. State Department has recruited and trained key opposition leaders from numerous anti-government organizations in Myanmar. Since 2003, the U.S. has provided the NED with more than $2.5 million a year for activities that promote a regime change in Myanmar. The NED funds key opposition media including the New Era Journal, Irrawaddy and the Democratic Voice of Burma radio...

Today in such human catastrophes, the outmoded economic, political and social relations of imperialism stand out in stark relief. The world needs revolution, and things could be a different way. In a whole new socialist society power would be in the hands of the people. Society’s resources and knowledge and, most especially, the compassion, creativity, and political consciousness of the masses, could and would be fully mobilized to build a whole new emancipating society that will be able to figure out and solve all kinds of problems, including how to deal with natural disasters.

The other day a young person asked me how I felt about being old.

I was taken aback, for I do not think of myself as old. Upon seeing my

reaction, she was immediately embarrassed, but I explained that

it was an interesting question, and I would ponder it, and let her know.

Old Age, I've decided, is a gift.

I am now, probably for the first time in my life,

the person I have always wanted to be.

Oh, not my body ... the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the

sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person

that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't

agonize over those things for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends,

my wonderful life, my loving family for

less gray hair or a flatter belly.

As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself,

and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.

I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making

my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need,

but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a

treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave

this world too soon; before they understood the

great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the

computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's,

and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body,

and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to,

despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful.

But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten.

And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken.

How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one,

or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet

gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us

strength and understanding and compassion.

A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and

will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have

my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs

be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.

So many have never laughed, and so many have

died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive.

You care less about what other people think.

I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned

the right to be wrong. So, to answer your question,

I like being old — it has set me free.

I like the person I have become.

I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here,

I will not waste time lamenting what could have been,

or worrying about what will be.

And I shall eat icecream every single day

(if I feel like it).

Grocery bills are rising through the roof. Food banks are running short of donations. And food shortages are causing sporadic riots in poor countries through the world.

Americans waste an astounding amount of food — an estimated 27 percent of the food available for consumption, according to a government study — and it happens at the supermarket, in restaurants and cafeterias and in your very own kitchen. It works out to about a pound of food every day for every American.

A more recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that Americans generate roughly 30 million tons of food waste each year, which is about 12 percent of the total waste stream.

And consider this: the rotting food that ends up in landfills produces methane, a major source of greenhouse gases.

The problem isn't unique to the United States.

In England, a recent study revealed that Britons toss away a third of the food they purchase, including more than four million whole apples, 1.2 million sausages and 2.8 million tomatoes. In Sweden, families with small children threw out about a quarter of the food they bought, a recent study there found.

And most distressing, perhaps, is that in some parts of Africa a quarter or more of the crops go bad before they can be eaten. A study presented last week to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development found that the high losses in developing nations "are mainly due to a lack of technology and infrastructure" as well as insect infestations, microbial growth, damage and high temperatures and humidity.

For decades, wasting food has fallen into the category of things that everyone knows is a bad idea but that few do anything about, sort of like speeding and reapplying sunscreen.

"The path of least resistance is just to chuck it," said Jonathan Bloom, who started a blog last year called wastedfood.com that tracks the issue.

Of course, eliminating food waste won't solve the problems of world hunger and greenhouse-gas pollution. But it could make a dent in this country and wouldn't require a huge amount of effort or money. The Department of Agriculture estimated that recovering just 5 percent of the food that is wasted could feed four million people a day; recovering 25 percent would feed 20 million people.

In many major cities, including New York, food rescue organizations do nearly all the work for cafeterias and restaurants that are willing to participate. The food generally needs to be covered and in some cases placed in a freezer. Food rescue groups pick it up. One of them, City Harvest, collects excess food each day from about 170 establishments in New York.

"We're not talking about table scraps," said Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, explaining the types of wasted food that is edible. "We're talking about a pan of lasagna that was never served."

For food that isn't edible, a growing number of states and cities are offering programs to donate it to livestock farmers or to compost it. In Massachusetts, for instance, the state worked with the grocery industry to create a program to set aside for composting food that can't be used by food banks.

There are also efforts to cut down on the amount of food that people pile on their plates. A handful of restaurant chains including TGI Friday's are offering smaller portions. And a growing number of college cafeterias have eliminated trays, meaning students have to carry their food to a table rather than loading up a tray.

During the Clinton administration, the secretary of agriculture at the time, Dan Glickman, created a program to encourage food recovery and gleaning, which means collecting leftover crops from farm fields. He assigned a member of his staff, Berg, to oversee the program, and Berg spent the next several years encouraging farmers, schools, hospitals and companies to donate extra crops and food to feeding charities.

Related: The Globalization of Hunger.

In the United States the name Doctors Without Borders is often used instead.

From PBS Online interview with MSF doctor in Myanmar.

Dr. Asis Min of Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres is working in the aid group's operations base in Bassein in the southwestern Irrawaddy delta region of Myanmar -- the area hit hardest by the cyclone.

As of May 13, the group reported that it had 200 staff members in Myanmar with plans for more to arrive. The teams are conducting medical consultations, distributing food, plastic sheeting and other items, and working to purify water and clean up areas where people have taken temporary shelter. The group also was able to fly in three planes carrying 110 metric tons of relief supplies to Yangon to reinforce the teams on the ground, the organization said.

I'm in the capital of Irrawaddy division, the worst-hit part of Myanmar. Between 95 percent and 100 percent of the houses have been destroyed. One location is in the extreme south western part of Myanmar, where there are a lot of very small islands and small villages on the islands. Many small villages have been completely deserted -- there are probably no survivors.

It's very, very complicated because you can bring people and goods to one part of the island, but inside the island there are many villages where there is no transport. We are carrying sacks of rice, medical kits, and plastic sheets (for building temporary shelters) to these villages on motorcycles, the only form of transport available.

What's needed is a quick mobilization in terms of water supply and other sanitation work. In terms of food and shelter, we're going to scale up our distributions in the coming days. At the beginning our supply was limited, so we had to provide food only for two or three days. As a result, we have to go back again to those areas, while at the same time we are reaching new areas.

It's getting better, but I would not say that there is food for everybody, because we have not reached everybody yet. In one of our first intervention areas, there is no other organization working. There is a small amount of rice provided by the government. But I don't think everybody has food. For the time being we need more emergency response in terms of food distribution, shelter and health care. It's a complete abyss. Places are destroyed completely.

Most of the water sources have been contaminated. We are working on decontaminating the existing wells, but our capacity is very limited because we have not been able to send any materials like big water-bladders with modern decontamination technology. We currently have no means for that type of thing in the field. If we cannot act quickly in water and sanitation, then there is a huge risk of disease outbreaks.

We are procuring supplies locally, but I guess this will not be possible for much longer. We have authorization to land charters from abroad so this will solve a little bit our problem of availability of goods. But that will not solve the problem of reaching quickly the extremely remote places without any infrastructure.

Doctors Without Borders Calls For Immediate and Unobstructed Escalation of Myanmar Relief Operations.

Teams now work in over 20 different locations and are managing to push further into the outlying areas. They treat several hundred patients each day. In addition to wounds, the main health problems are respiratory infections, fever, and diarrhea. So far, 140 tons of relief materials have been flown into the country. More than 275 tons of food have been distributed since the beginning of operations.

“Although MSF is able to provide a certain level of direct assistance, the overall relief effort is clearly inadequate,” said Bruno Jochum, MSF director of operations. “Thousands of people affected by the cyclone are in a critical state and are in urgent need of relief. The aid effort is hampered by government-imposed restrictions on international staff working in the Delta region,” he said. “For example, despite the fact that some MSF water and sanitation specialists have been granted visas to enter Myanmar, they have not been permitted to travel into the disaster area, where their expertise is desperately needed. An effective emergency operation of this magnitude requires coordinators and technical staff experienced in large-scale emergency response.”

MSF calls on the Government of Myanmar to allow for an immediate increase of the relief effort and free and unhindered access of international humanitarian staff to the affected areas.

MSF Teams Working in China’s Quake-hit Areas.

The health-care infrastructure is good in Sichuan, but some hospitals have been damaged, and services have been limited and overwhelmed by wounded. Health-care interventions have been made free of charge in this post-earthquake period. There is a referral system in place for complicated medical cases (usually from towns to cities). Surgical equipment and capacity are needed, especially for orthopedic care and anesthesia.

The results from the initial assessment indicate urgent needs for shelters, drinking water, medical and sanitation supplies. Most pharmacies in the area were destroyed by the quake, and people are facing a dire shortage of medicines. Therefore, MSF is planning to send medicine and medical supplies to Chengdu.

“In the assessed areas, a lot of houses have been destroyed and many people have lost their basic living conditions,” says Philip Tavernier, the MSF Head of Mission in China. “We will therefore send blankets, plastic sheeting, and hygiene kits (soap, basin, towel, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.) from Hong Kong to the affected area.

MSF will donate surgical material, perfusions, dressing material, and additional drugs. Material to carry out dialysis will also be donated in order to treat the people suffering from the so-called crush syndrome.

In the next two days about 25 specialists (nephrologists, surgeons, doctors, nurses, psychologists, logisticians, and water-and-sanitation experts) should arrive in Sichuan, along with additional relief material.

Others:

AmeriCares.

China launches 3 bilingual websites for quake information.

The three sites were established by the Xinhua News Agency, the People's Daily and the China Central Television Station, respectively.

http://www.chinaview.cn/08quake/

www.xhwenchuan.cn

www.512gov.cn

www.wenchuan.cn

Mark Canning, Britain's ambassador to Myanmar, has told Al Jazeera that the relief operation for Myanmar is likely to be twice the size needed in Aceh province in Indonesia, after the 2004 tsunami.

His comments come as a UN official says that Myanmar's refusal to grant visas to foreign aid teams is "unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts", underscoring mounting frustration over the military governments' response to the cyclone crisis.

"Some aid is getting through. Some UN and other flights, some World Food Programme convoys, are getting through. But they're not getting through fast enough, not in the volume that is needed."

Some relief supplies have been allowed to land in Myanmar, but many more tonnes of aid and dozens of expert foreign staff have not leaving hundreds of thousands of survivors at risk of hunger and disease.

"It's clear that the government's ability to deal with the situation, which is catastrophic, is limited … and since it's not able to you would expect the government to welcome assistance from others," Zalmay Khalilzad said. (the US ambassador to the UN)

"We're shocked by the behaviour of the government."

Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, has called on the ruling generals to postpone a referendum due on Saturday on the country's constitution.

Myanmar's military government indicated on Friday that while it wanted relief supplies, foreign aid personnel were not being called for.

A foreign ministry statement said the government had given priority to receiving aid from abroad but using its own nationals to deliver it to stricken areas.

Many residents remain without food and shelter, while corpses rotting in the flood waters are creating a health hazard.

Describing the situation in Myanmar as "increasingly desperate on the ground", Holmes said Ban Ki-moon, the UN chief, was trying to talk to Than Shwe, Myanmar's military leader, to urge him to "strongly to facilitate access" for foreign relief workers.

At least 40 visa applications from UN aid workers are pending and many others are waiting in Thailand to enter.

Among those stranded were 10 members of a USAID disaster response team.

A US state department official earlier hinted that it was considering dropping food aid over parts of the disaster zones, without Myanmar's approval.

But the Pentagon said it would not consider such a move without the Myanmar government's permission.

With the Irrawaddy delta's roads washed out and the infrastructure in shambles, large areas are accessible only by air.

Tim Costello, chief executive of World Vision Australia, said that "it's certainly the case that the Americans, as they showed in the tsunami, have extraordinary capacity".

Samak Sundaravej, Thailand's prime minister, has offered to negotiate on Washington's behalf to persuade Myanmar's government to accept US assistance.

France is arguing that the UN has the power to intervene without the Myanmar government's approval to help civilians under a 2005 agreement that the world body has a "responsibility to protect" people when governments fail to do it.

That agreement did not mention natural disasters.

The foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany have urged Myanmar's leaders to let foreign aid into the country.

U.S. envoy: Myanmar deaths may top 100,000. (cnn)

More organisations in Singapore rally to help Myanmar cyclone victims.

Support disaster relief in Myanmar (Burma). (google)

Barking Wilder hunches down on his knees and begins to rock back and forth, singing in a child-like soprano. "Chaos-man, chaos-man, hop-a-long home, a faction-it-is, yet we-are-alone."

"I'm looking for a lost journal. Do you know where I might find one?"

When he speaks again, his voice is level and straightforward... it is like a different, saner, person is speaking. The effect is eerie.

"More than one lost, more than one must you find. Each part of you had one, so more than one must you find." He blinks and shakes his head for a moment, as if surprised at himself, then chuckles uneasily.

"One is in a cupboard in your guest room in the hall of the Sensates, and another is on the walls of a tomb sealed deep beneath the city where the stones weep. The others are..."

Before he can finish, his right fist comes up and smashes him in the face, causing him to yowl again.

That is his last moment of clarity and after that, I am unable to get anything out of him.

I am not sure whether his words are believable. In the first place, how could the guy knows my different incarnations?

A pretty, young woman is asking for help, the bodice of her dress is torn and is stained with blood. She says some people are killing her sister. She becomes inconsistent when she mentions that one drunken man followed them ..

Noticing that the blood must be hours old for it has dried up, I threaten her to speak the truth or I will kill her. She owns up she is supposed to lure people into a nearby alley where others will rob. I let her go.

In retrospect, it looks like I made a bad decision to let her go just like that, for later in the day, many thugs in the area hunt us down. We have absolutely no chance against the gang, I and Morte run like hell to escape from their view. We have to temporarily take refuge in the Smoldering Corpse bar. I realize that given time, my injury will heal on its own. We have plenty of time to enjoy our stay here.

In the center of the bar, a flaming corpse is twisting in mid-air. His name is Ignus, one of the greatest wizards who had turned mad. He loves the flame more than anything else, and is consumed by the flame. After he had burnt the Alley of Angles, he was caught by a collaboration of many magic users. They turned him into a living conduit to the plane of Fire. Somehow, Ignus had kept himself alive by force of will alone. His lover, Drusilla, still loves him. She has sold what little she has just so she can be near him.

Barkis, the bartender, recognizes me for I had owed him. Fifteen years ago, a drunken me smashed up this place. As I had not enough money to pay for the damages, I had plucked out my eyeball and told him I'll be back to reclaim it when I have two hundred coins. That damned Barkis however charges me five hundred coins to get back my eyeball. Upon my protest, he agrees to reduce to three hundred. For what reason, should I get back my eyeball? If that eyeball is really mine, then I might be able to remember something of my past through it. For now, I have insufficient money to exchange back my eyeball, but soon, I will have after we slay the thugs.

An old man with grey beard and grey hair by the name of Ebb Creakknees, invites me with a drink. He says something that interests me, the Blood War between the baatezu and the tanar'ri. Ebb mentions that the Lady has kept the Powers out of Sigil, and ensures that the Blood War doesn't spread to Sigil.

A man by the name of Candrian Illborne, sits beside Ebb, he looks literally half-gone. There is an insubstantiality to his existence, as if some of his essence has left him. Candrian is a traveler, dreamer, and a talespinner, he had travelled to the far reaches of the multiverse. He talks for quite long about the different planes. I'm sure I can't remember half of it. He had just come back from the Negative Material Plane. He had went there to understand his body's urge to decay and the cycle of death in life and had nearly lost his existence. He was beset by shadows that sought to snuff out his soul. Candrian is able to sense that I might go there one day and he gives me a gift, a small black token that looks as if it has no dimensionality. The token had protected him from the shadows. I tell him about the paranoid woman, Ingress who can't return back to her home. Candrian has offered to help her back. I thanks him.

In another table, sits an old githzerai, his face is angular and a strange, shimmering blade is strapped across his back. He is known as Dak'kon. The githzerai shape cities with their thoughts in the shifting chaos plane of Limbo. The *karach* blade he holds is a symbol carried by one who knows the words of Zerthimon, and thus knows himself. (Zerthimon founded their race) When I asks him the question, "Do you know yourself?" and presses him for an answer, he reveals that he does not *know* himself and he does not know how to *know* himself once more. I feel a sadness, but at the same time, I feel a closeness with him.

When I asks Dak'kon about Sigil, he says that the city does not *know* itself. Sigil is in contradiction with itself, it has doors everywhere and yet these doors are locked. Somehow, I am motivated to counter him.

"You claim this city's existence is flawed. You have accepted this rather than explore the possibility that something greater may exist. That suggests you are flawed... and that you do not search for knowledge, but only for a convenient answer." Dak'kon fell silent.

"There is no *knowing* the answer to the questions we have asked. Yet the city exists. That is all."

"Yet I would maintain that we *know* ourselves by the questions we ask and the ones we do not. If we cease asking questions and accept only what we can perceive..."

"Then we will cease to *know* ourselves." Dak'kon's voice has changed slightly, become heavier. "Such words have been spoken before. I have heard them and *know* them."

"Where have you heard them?"

"The words are mine. Once, I *knew* them and *knew* their meaning. I had forgotten them until you spoke." Dak'kon's gaze travels through me, and his blade stops shimmering, bleeding of all color until it is translucent. There is a moment of silence, then Dak'kon looks up at me. "I would travel your path with you."

Do I know myself?

Am I being helpful just for the sake of helping others?

Am I being helpful so that I will gain something back, so that in turn, I will be helped?

Am I being helpful so that the evil will be punished?

Am I being helpful so that I can redeem and lessen my suffering?

Am I being helpful only to those that have also suffered?

Am I being helpful because I am more inclined to goodness?

There is one striking red-haired girl with a tail, she isn't friendly though. "Pike off, yeh clueless sod." Morte soon intervenes and gets into a war of words. Before it escalates further, I pull Morte off and bid her farewell.

Morte says he is a mimir (a talking encyclopedia), he has a special skill in taunting and by his own words, he can drive a deva to murder.

Sigil is ruled by a mysterious, powerful Lady and it is best not to cross her. Her servants are those mysterious floating creatures (Dabus) that seems to be either building or repairing all over the city. Out of curiosity, I attempt to talk to one Dabus. A series of symbols appears above its head when a Dabus communicates. After some time, I find that I can understand those symbols and speak with Dabus, though they do not talk much.

We meet a haggard woman who is paranoid with Sigil and doors. (portals) Sigil is called the 'City of Doors,' mostly because there's a LOT of invisible doors that lead in and out of it, and just about anything can be a door (portal) if you have the right key to activate it. She calms down slightly when she describes how she had ended up in Sigil a long time ago. She was humming a tune by a glade with two dead trees that had fallen together, when a brilliant door opened in the space between the crossed trees. She stepped through the door and ended in Sigil. Since then, she had tried many times and many doors to return back and had suffered so much that she is afraid of going through any door or arch for fear that it might be a portal that lead her to a terrible place. She had lost her hand, it was burnt, and since then, she had lived her life with fear. It is a sad story, I tell her that I will help her if I know of a way.

In one house, we meet an angry man and it takes a mighty effort of restraint to leave him. From his wife, we come to know that he had signed a Dead Contract (it gives Dustmen the right to the dead body) with the Dustmen and he had become sullen after that. His wife had tried to undo the contract with Gravesend but wasn't able to. I decide to help them and his wife makes me promise not to let her husband know about this.

In the Gathering Dust bar, we manage to convince Gravesend that it is morally wrong for him to hold such a contract for one that is hindered by the contract to believe in True Death yet. We are able to speak with a few other Dustmens, in particular, the chief Dustmen, Emoric is also interested in Pharod, Pharod had been trading a large number of deaders to them and he wants to know where so many dead bodies come from.

I tear up the Dead Contract in front of Angyar. Both are grateful and Angyar's wife will allow us to rest in their house. It is safer to rest during the night as the Hive become more dangerous with many thugs ready to kill and rob. When I tell Angyar that I need to find Pharod, he tells me that Pharod's kip is under Ragpicker Square, there is a portal that leads to it and we need to carry some junks to activate the portal.

Ragpicker Square is full of piles of trash, and broken down buildings that looked as though they will soon collapse. We find out that Sharegrave is the boss of the collectors around this place. Once I tell Sharegrave that I need to find Pharod to get back some of my things, Sharegrave becomes more friendly. He even offers me a hundred copper commons to find out where did Pharod found so many dead bodies. I gladly accept his offer.

There is an elderly old woman in one wooden hut. She is the midwife of the Square, her name is Mebbeth. Mebbeth tells me that Pharod can be found beneath Ragpicker Square, and there is a gate that leads to his nest somewhere here in the Square.

For some reason, I have a feeling that Mebbeth may be a witch, so I question her. It turns out she knows magic. I ask Mebbeth to teach me magic so that it may help me to solve the mystery of who I am.

"The Art may help, it may not, and ye must not rely on it ta solve all o' yer problems." She sighed. "Child, it's most like only going to add another chip to yer pile o' questions..."

Mebbeth eventually agrees to teach me if I can complete some tasks for her. The first task is to find the strange black herbs she needs, she gives me the herbs seed. We head over to the Hive marketplace and inquire a fruit merchant about the seed, the merchant has no idea about the herbs. Maybe, a gardener can help? Just then, my mind recalls one by the name of Mourns-For-Trees who can help. He is sad that trees are dying and we have helped him to care for the trees by believing and wanting the trees to grow. When we speak with him again, I am reminded of his belief that beliefs can shape things. I am then able to believe and want the seed to grow, and much to my surprise, the seed grows into a plant that wrap around my wrist.

After I complete two other tasks, Mebbeth asks me whether I still want to learn the art. I know the guiding goal of my errands was to test my persistence and Mebbeth knows who I had to see to accomplish each errand. I reflect on what I had learned from those I had talked to.

"Mourns-for-Trees showed me that my beliefs affect the world around me, Giscorl taught me that ritual is a wasted effort if the purpose of the ritual is ignored, Meir'am taught me that no matter how much I think I know, there is still much I can learn from another's eyes."

Mebbeth thinks I will be a master sorcerer one day and proceeds to test whether I can read spell recipe. Instinctively, I relax my eyes and I am able to understand the symbols to be a minor divination that allows user to see the nature of an item. Mebbeth's eyes widened.

"Who are ye to test Ol' Mebbeth so?! Are ye some fiend?"

"No."

"Well... not expectin' it, was I..." She nods at the recipe, then plucks it out of my hand. "What ye see, it's written in the language of the *Art.* If ye're not a mageling yet, it should be all-a-swirl-jumble of mish-mash." She snaps her finger. "Yet, clear as crystal, ye pluck the sense of it right up. Mayhap ye tell Ol' Mebbeth why that is?"

I think I may have known once, but forgot... seeing the symbols just jarred my memory. Mebbeth then creates a spell book with those items that I have fetched for her. She gives me some simple spells and dismiss me.

"All right child -- don't tarry here any longer. One such as ye has other ways to spend one's time rather than hang around Ol' Mebbeth."

I thanks Mebbeth. (Mebbeth can help to heal us if needed and we can also rest in her place)