Breister’s feet hit the stone beach at the bottom of the LuteWoo just as the sun was beginning to penetrate to its depths. He looked up to the opening above him where Helga, Burwell, Bwellina, and Janty waited. He unfastened the rope from around his waist and gave two sharp tugs on the loose end. Helga and Janty pulled it up, to prepare for Helga to descend.
Helga had convinced Janty to allow her and Breister to return with her to the WooPeace. They hoped to meet with WooZan alone so as to not create a sensation in the WooPeace unnecessarily. Breister knew that WooZan came daily to the LuteWoo. Their plan was to be there when she came and talk with her about the possibility of allowing free visiting to and from the WooPeace.
“She’s not going to like it,” JanWoo-Corriboo declared with conviction. “WooZan is going to blow a cork to find you guys in the LuteWoo when she gets there. Never in recorded history has anyone ever descended through the LuteWoo! Creatures are scared to death of the Fire Beetles that live there.”
“But, as you know, and we all can see,” Breister observed as he made ready to descend, “there is no multitude of fearsome Fire Beetles here, unless you want to count that centipede over there. I guess if you counted all his legs, that might pass for a multitude!” Everyone laughed, but also realized that what Janty said was true. Although it was clearly open to the outside, for untold generations, no WooSheep had ever tried to enter or leave the WooPeace through the LuteWoo.
“This is the only chance we have to speak with WooZan privately,” Helga said. “If we are going to have any chance of getting a hearing from her, we must not confront her before the rest of the WooSheep. There is no other way to get a private moment with her, except to try to meet her here in the LuteWoo.”
“But this is also just about the worst place to meet her,” JanWoo-Corriboo added worriedly. “This is her place of personal reflection. It’s as if we’re confronting her in her personal retreat. She’s not going to like it.”
“I know,” Helga agreed, “but how else to get a moment with her? She would like it even less if we showed up at the Common Bowl and started talking to the WooSheep about opening up to the outside!”
“Well,” Helga declared grimly, “we’ll soon know how WooZan will like it. Here goes nothing!” With her pack securely strapped to her back, Helga tied the safety rope around her waist.
Janty and Burwell lowered Helga down to where Breister waited. She unattached herself, tugged twice, and the empty rope shot up out of the LuteWoo. Janty was tying it around her waist, and was about to follow Helga down, when a loud commotion from below caused her and Burwell to halt their activities and draw back away from the edge. Clearly WooZan had arrived, and she was not happy.
“Is it you? The Wood Cow Woonyak, returned?” WooZan screeched. “How dare you return? How dare you drop into the LuteWoo like this? Are you mad? Hunjah!” WooZan calmed herself suddenly, and dropping her voice said in more pleasant tones, “No, I’m sorry. You startled me so badly. This has never happened before. I did not know what to say. I’m sorry I yelled at you. Hunjah!” The hairs on Helga’s neck bristled with caution. She did not trust WooZan.
“Why have you come here?” WooZan asked. “What can this humble servant of the WooPeace do for you? You surely have come for something. You did not plan to come here, where you knew you would find me, if you did not want something from me. What can this humble servant do for you?”
“We have come to ask you to open the WooPeace to regular visiting with outsiders—with creatures from the world above,” Breister replied.
“You don’t know what you are asking,” WooZan said, shaking her head sadly. “The only true peace is in the WooPeace. No, you do not know what you ask. But the WooSheep know. They know that only great evil can come upon us from discontents and rebels like you. You do not know this, but I know this, and the rest of the WooSheep know it, too. Hunjah!”
“Don’t be so sure, WooZan,” Helga replied. “We know many creatures, both in the WooPeace and in the WooSheep Bottoms above, who want the two worlds to come together, or at least open to visits from family.”
“There are no WooSheep above,” WooZan declared. “Only the dead exist in the realm above!”
“But are we dead?” Helga demanded. “We have come from the world above and we are flesh and blood just like you. You don’t deny that, surely?”
“Yes, I know who you are, and why you are here,” WooZan replied with a faint, but noticeable coldness. “It matters not that you are real creatures. You have come to disturb the tranquility of the WooPeace. That is all I need to know. You do not exist. You cannot exist. Hunjah!”