[ IP ] Nomad Landing

A girl and her mother walked along the beach by the edge of the ocean. The seagulls squawked busily, and looked at them nervously whenever they came too close. 
 
 `` Mama,'' asked the girl, whose name was Julia, `` why are n't the seagulls as a afraid of humans as the other birds?'' 
 
 `` Ah,'' said Julia's mother, `` that is most certainly a long story, and it's certainly time that you heard it by now. I imagine that you're old enough.'' 
 
 She looked at Julia, and smiled mischievously, `` or almost old enough, at least.'' 
 
 They walked on in silence for a few moments. Then Julia's mother began to speak. 
 
 `` Once upon a time there was ancient temple. This was an inconceivable amount of time before today, but even then it was ancient. No one remembered the god that it was built to honour. We do know, however, that this god had the form of a bear, for this was the shape of the statue inside temple. 
 
 `` This temple stood on a hill, alongside many other temples, though none were quite so ancient as this. There was also a boy named Lin, whose job it was to clean the temples who lived in a hut at the bottom of the hill. He polished the statues inside, and swept the floors clean of the leafs and pine needles that inevitably collected on them. 
 
 `` Not far away, there was a city, as large and magnificent as one can imagine. It shone bright white under the sun, and at night it glowed orange with the glow from thousands of lanterns. Its name was Morovan, and within its walls lived more than half of the gods of that time. In Morovan lived Zeus of the lightning, and Ra of the sun, and Lorax of the trees, and Joe of the averages. There were many more gods in Morovan, but not quite all of them. 
 
 `` For example, Artemis of the hunt did not live there, though she did visit on occasion. Artemis spent most of her time in the forests with her group of hunters. She was rare in this. Most deities stayed in one place for a long time, and when they did have nomadic lifestyles, they rarely associated with mortals, preferring a hermit-like existence. There was one other god however, who seemed simply to enjoy travelling the world with ordinary humans, and this was Norman of the Nomads. They were called Nomads with a capital N, you see, because they were a very specific group. They all rode on giant birds called Blue Baufers, and in this way they travelled the world with Norman as their leader. 
 
 `` I tell you this because Norman was technically Lin's employer, though Lin had never met him. One day a small Blue Baufer had landed in front of him carrying a scroll with instructions on it, and a promise of good pay. Lin had been unemployed at the time, so he decided to take the job. The Baufer had flown away, and not in another five years had Lin seen any trace of Norman, or even another Baufer. Nevertheless, he always kept the temples clean, and his paycheck always arrived punctually. 
 
 `` One day, as Lin was minding his own business inside of his hut, a small rock sitting on his windowsill began to glow a faint orange. He frowned. That meant that paragraph 4b of his instructions had been activated. He quickly pulled down the scroll off of his shelf, and read over paragraph 4b again. He quietly swore under his breath. Then he rushed towards the city as fast his legs could carry him without giving way completely. 
 
 `` Lin shoved his way past the lines of pedestrians and carts waiting to get through the gates. 
 
 ``'Watch it!' called out one man carrying a basket full of eggs. 
 
 ``'No cutting in line,' complained an old woman driving a cart. 
 
 `` Lin felt bad, but he ignored them. He rushed up to the guards watching the gate and said,'send a messenger to air traffic control, Nomads coming in for a landing.' The guards looked like they were about to object, but Lin pressed a copper into their hands, and rushed off before they could say anything. 
 
 `` Soon, he was back on top of the hill, looking up at the sky, waiting. Then, off in the distance, he saw them. A few blue specks in the northern sky. Lin shouted and waved at them, but there was no response. They were much too far away. Lin waited for a few minutes. It was remarkable how fast they could fly, they were already noticeably closer. In a few more moments, they were bearing down on the hill with remarkable speed. Lin shouted up at them and waved his crude wooden paddles. They slowed slightly, and began to circle above the hill slowly. Lin indicated a patch of ground that was clear for landing. A few Blue Baufers broke off from circling, and began a slow descent towards the spot that Lin had indicated. 
 
 `` Suddenly, a group of people wearing the uniforms of air traffic control rushed up the side of the hill. They shoved Lin out of the way and began waving their own paddles in a considerably more professional manner than Lin had been. Lin watched in fascination as all the birds were landed in practically no time at all. Each one came down with a heavy thump onto the tall grass growing on the hill. On the back of each bird was a Nomad, bundled up and wearing air goggles. But which one was Norman? 
 
 `` The question was soon resolved. One Nomad dismounted, and walked up to Lin. 
 
 ``'Hello,' he said,'I'm Norman. I believe that I owe you a copper?' 
 
 `` Norman handed Lin a copper. Then he glanced over at some of the nearby temples.'Fantastic job you've been doing here. I think you deserve a raise. But unfortunately, you're going to get a promotion instead. If you want it that is?' 
 
 ``'Um,' said Lin,'what is the promotion, exactly?' 
 
 ``'Ah,' said Norman,'I'm so very glad you asked. You see I've been growing increasingly concerned about the situation in Morovan. One hears rumours when travelling abroad, you see, and they are certainly worrisome. Perhaps you have not stayed up with the current events in Morovan, but there is a certain term being bandied about though no one seems to know the meaning of it.' 
 
 ``'A term?' ased Lin. 
 
 ``'Well, more of a phrase, really. It is simply this: the world to come. That's it, and I do n't know what it means, but it sounds ominous, if you catch my drift.' 
 
 ``'It does, now that I think about it,' observed Lin. 
 
 ``'So, would you consider, perhaps, sticking around here for a little while? Nosing around in the city and such, until you find out,' said Norman.'I would supply you with a Blue Baufer, so that you could come and tell me the instant you did. And you would find the pay a considerable improvement on your current rate.' 
 
 `` Norman smiled hopefully at Lin. Lin had, to be honest, been sold on the idea the instant he heard he would be getting to fly a Baufer. 
 
 ``'I'll do it,' said Lin. 
 
 ``'Excellent!' exclaimed Norman.'' 
 
 Julia's mother paused in her storytelling, saying something about `` stupidly big beach,'' and picked some blackberries for Julia while Julia herself sat on a log to rest her tired feet. 
 
 `` What about the rest of the story?'' asked Julia with a note of concern in her voice. 
 
 `` To be continued,'' said Julia's mother through a mouth filled with tasty berries.
