Free Names for Nothingness by Georgia Blain Page A

put on his shoes, tying the laces for him. When she had finished, he stood, beckoning for them to follow. They walked single file, the path narrow and rocky, and the heat rising as they continued their ascent. They arrived as the helicopter was landing, the blades chopping through the sharpness of the sky, whipping up a wind that seemed to have enough strength to lift them all in its force.
    Kalyani stepped out, laying a length of white cloth behind him, unfolding the material and weighing it down with stones, until it reached the shade of an ancient spotted gum, where they waited. He returned to the helicopter, not treading on the cloth, and reached up to help a man, who they could only assume to be Satya Deva, step down to the ground.
    As he approached, Caitlin saw that he was short and his frame was slight beneath the white shift that he wore. He seemed to float, rather than walk, across the paleness of the path that had been laid out before him, his bare feet treading so lightly that not even a twig snapped under his weight.
    â€˜Welcome.’ The depth of his voice was surprising, and his smile embraced them all. ‘We have new followers.’ He laughed, and Caitlin felt as though she, too, could laugh in delight, wrapped in the beauty of the day and the perfection of each moment.
    He held out his arms and they each stood, in turn, to receive his touch, light but charged with an electricity that bolted through Caitlin’s body with a strength that left her soul singing with joy.
    They sat again, waiting for him to continue to speak, but he remained silent, eyes closed and head turned upwards towards the arc of clear sky. In the stillness that followed,Caitlin felt the weight of her own expectations evaporate. There was no need for words, there never had been and there never would be. Overhead, the blue-green leaves rustled silvery in the sunlight, and the branches creaked in the breeze. The white cloth that had been laid out lifted and fell, rippling like a sail across the rocks and twigs. A ladybird landed on her foot and Caitlin felt its presence as though it was at one with her as she was at one with it.
    This was where she wanted to be and the peace that enveloped her was such that she was not even aware of its existence. It simply was. As she closed her eyes, she knew that there was no turning back. Each moment was each moment but it would be from this moment that each would follow, and so she remained, sitting silent, until the day began to slide towards afternoon, until they were told that it was time to return to camp and prepare for their departure.

    On her return, Caitlin fainted.
    â€˜I haven’t eaten,’ she explained to Liam, and she was glad that it was he who was at home and not Sharn.
    He helped her to her bed and told her he would fetch her some food.
    He had made soup, and she sat up by his side, swallowing small mouthfuls with a difficulty that surprised her. He did not interrupt her eating to ask where she had been or why she had had no food. He was not like that. He simply waited for her to finish and to speak. How could she explain? She wanted to tell him but she simply did not know how.
    â€˜Are you all right?’ he eventually asked, and she nodded, hoping he could see, right there in her face, how happy she was.
    â€˜The school rang,’ he told her, ‘on the night you left.’
    She looked at him.
    â€˜They’re worried.’
    She waited, aware of how difficult he was finding this.
    â€˜You haven’t been going. And you haven’t handed in this.’ He held up the form on which she was meant to select the courses she wanted to do. It had not been completed.
    â€˜I don’t want to go,’ she told him, and she was surprised at her own directness.
    Again, he didn’t ask her why, he just waited for her to continue.
    â€˜I want to leave,’ she said, and she looked across at him as she told him she had found something, something that