The young Sage's acolyte sighed as he sat on a cold, stone bench, hands sitting restlessly on his knees. He had been brought along by a couple of the elder Sages who had been charged with taking care of him, and now they had left him here, in the gardens of the Umbra Witches as they were inside dealing with some business with the magic women of this place.

He hoped that they would be back soon so that they could leave. Ever since he had been old enough to talk, he had had the evils of the witches impressed upon him. They were women of the night, who drew power from infernal demons that hailed from the deepest pits of Inferno. This did not sit well with the Sages, who were men of light that held contracts with angels from the purifying light of Paradiso. They were to be feared and distanced from, yet, in complete contradiction, also treated with respect. They may have been from different factions, but their cooperation and peace was vital to the stability of the world.

However, for an eight year old boy, this was no excuse for the elder Sages to go inside and deal with them, leaving him outside with an order to stay put on this bench.

The child sighed, and leaned back slightly, until his back was just barely touching the tall wall of rosebushes that loomed up behind him and his bench.

"Who are you?"

He jumped slightly as the voice came from behind him, yelping as he felt a thorn from the bushes jab him in the back of the neck as he jerked so suddenly. He turned himself around, raising himself onto his knees so that he could look without leaving his place on the bench. When he peered through the petals, thorns, and leaves, he was surprised to see a pair of eyes at around his height staring back at him. He narrowed his own eyes. Who did this person think they were, sneaking up on him like that? Especially in a place like this.

"I should ask you the same question. What are you lurking around the bushes for?"

"I asked you first," the pert little voice on the other side responded. "Besides, this is the Witches' Gardens, and you're obviously not a Witch. So just what are you doing here?"

"I'm here with the Lumen Sages, they're inside talking to the witches right now."

"You look a little young to be a Sage." He growled in a bit of annoyance.

"Well obviously I'm still in training," he snipped in retort. "I'm going to be a Sage someday, too. They just trust me enough already to bring me along to places like this."

"And then the grown-ups leave you outside to sit by yourself while they're doing all the neat things inside, hm?" the other voice replied cheekily from behind the roses. Well now, whoever she was (he was fairly certain the other voice was female), she certainly knew how to touch sore spots, now didn't she?

"Well, just what are you doing here, then? You seem a little young to be a Witch."

"I live here, silly boy~" The eyes on the other side twinkled as she giggled at what she must have thought was him being funny. "You aren't the only one in training. I'm going to be a Witch someday, just like you're going to be a Sage."

"Well then, miss Witch in training," he replied snippily, trying to retort with what he thought was an equal amount of cheek, "what's your name?"

"Rosa, like these bushes," the girl replied. "And you? What do they call you Mr. 'Sage in training'?~" He was a bit annoyed as she threw his own phrase back at him, but then he couldn't do much but answer her question, otherwise it might seem that she had managed to one-up him (in his own mind, at any rate).

"Balder," he replied proudly. He attempted to mimic the proud appearances that many of the elder Sages held when they wanted to look regal. However, he broke the character when she only laughed at him again.

"That's a silly name."

"Well, it's no sillier than 'Rosa'," he retorted testily. Proud though he wanted to appear, his injured ego caused him to resort to the typically childish action of sticking his tongue at Rosa through the bushes. It didn't seem to have an effect on her, though, because all she did was keep laughing.

"You're pretty funny for a Sage," she said through her laughter. Her eyes were twinkling, and he thought that she might say more, but then she gasped suddenly, and her eyes disappeared from the other side of the bush. He was left confused for a moment, until he realized that he couldn't hear or see any more signs of her still being there.

"...Rosa?" He spoke her name tentatively, squinting through the foliage to try and find the girl he had been conversing/arguing with. "...Are you still there?... Rosa?... Ro-"

"Balder." He started away from the bushes, as he realized that the Sages who had brought him to this place were coming up the path. "What is it you're doing over there?"

"I was... I mean... I-" he fumbled with his words as he tried to figure out what to explain. Could he say that he had been talking to a girl on the other side? Would he get in trouble since she was a Witch in training?

"Well, no matter. Come away from there, my child, we must return to the Sanctuary before nightfall."

"Yes sir," he responded as he came down from the bench. He made his way up to the two elders, who immediately turned and began walking up the path away from the Witches' sanctuary. Balder followed them for a few steps, but then paused, glancing over his shoulder for a few moments, his eyes fixed upon the bushes through which he was just having a most unusual conversation.

"Balder, you're lagging behind."

"Coming, sir."