All night, they had walked silently. the mules were flagging. the wind blew hard. their stomachs, empty since yesterday, no longer made noise. the girl walked numbly on, as in a trance. she could no longer feel the earth beneath her feet. why would the author most likely include this passage at the beginning of a story? a. to set up a conflict among the main characters b. to establish the motivation of the main character c. to identify the story as an example of a particular tradition d. to make the reader question what is happening in the story