Near the Far Cliffs, Jonathan observes Fletcher attempt a dive and vertical slow roll; Fletcher loses control and grows frustrated, but Jonathan is patient and encouraging. After three months of working with Fletcher, six more Outcast students have joined Jonathan’s school of flight. However, while the students are committed to learning physical skills, they lack interest in the spiritual framework Jonathan tries to teach them. Eventually, Jonathan decides to bring his students back to the Flock.

The students are not receptive to the idea; they do not feel that their skills are ready, or that the Flock is ready for them. Jonathan, however, reminds them, “We’re free to go where we wish and to be what we are” (77). The group flies in formation to Council Beach, where Jonathan resumes his flying lessons, pushing his students harder than ever, with impressive results; his students begin to discover their own particular talents.

Initially, the Flock ignores Jonathan and his gulls, but slowly gulls start approaching Jonathan to listen to the lessons. The turning point for the Flock comes when Kirk Maynard Gull, a handicapped gull, asks Jonathan to help him fly. Jonathan simply tells Maynard that he is free, and Maynard is able to take to the sky.