After Jonathan dies, two birds approach him and tell Jonathan that they have come to take him to a new and higher level of learning. Because Jonathan strived for perfection, he was taken from his old world and taken to a higher level. Jonathan realized that he was not in heaven because Chiang, the elder gull, said that heaven is not a place, it is perfection. Jonathan begins to remember his old Breakfast Flock, and he decides to go back down to the shore. There he meets Fletcher, an outcast of the Breakfast Flock. Jonathan becomes Fletcher’s teacher and teaches him love and the meaning of forgiveness. Jonathan makes Fletcher promise that he will return and teach others.