Lillylia led Ben and Jades to a secluded spot in the garden, near a tree that looked very much like a weeping willow on Earth.

The innumerable, small, leaves were of an intense blue color and were thick enough to hide the thorns with which the thin branches were dotted.
"The thorns of this tree are poisonous" Lillylia explained "Not to the point of killing you but enough to make you spend a bad half day, for this reason those who frequent the garden prefer to avoid going through here" she continued "If the tree is in a bad mood they would risk a painful whip "

"Whip?" Ben repeated perplexed "Wait, do you mean that this tree THINKS?"

"That's right" the Eukaryotalis answered with a big smile "it's a really fascinating plant, it's one of the few species of the plant kingdom to be, in its own way, sensible, on my home planet there are millions of specimens like it, so I know how behave"

"I knew of the existence of aliens with plant-like characteristics" the boy said thinking of some of his alien forms, like Wildvine and Swampfire "I have some alien forms like that in the Omnitrix"

"That's true, but it is one thing to have a look or powers similar to plants, it is another one to really be" Lillylia said, approaching the blanket of blue leaves "Jades, is there anyone in sight?"

"Go ahead" her friend replied, after taking a brief look around.

"Perfect" Lillylia closed her eyes for a moment, joining her hands as if in prayer.

The marks on her arms emitted a brief blue glow.
The branches of the tree shuddered and, a few moments later, they opened like a kind of curtain giving them access to its trunk.
"Thanks friend" Lillylia murmured "Quick, come here"

"Wow, how did you do that?" Ben asked.

"Since the dawn of time my people have been blessed with the power to communicate with nature" Lillylia said "We respect it and in return it gives us its fruits"
"Ah, so you are like Poison Ivy" commented the human.

Lillylia blinked perplexed "Poison-who?"

"Uh, Nevermind ..." Ben smiled, rubbing his neck "Earth mythology"

"Anyway, you asked for a hiding place, right?" Lillylia smiled, indicating an opening in the trunk of the tree "Here it is"
Ben moved closer, noticing a fairly large empty space inside the trunk.

Or rather, almost empty "Are those … tarts?"

"O-Oh, oops ..." Lillylia blushed slightly, smiling embarrassed "Yeah, I forgot that there were someone left"

"Why should you keep tarts in a tree?" the human asked, curious.

"I can't belive it Lilly" Jades intervened, looking conserned "You did it again?"
"Did what?"
"Well, actually I wouldn't be allowed to take them since they are for the lords of the palace, certainly not for the servants" the alien elf admitted "But they are soooo delicious! That sometime I steal a couple from the pan of the day, I just can't help it! You … you won't say anything about it to Empress Attea, right?"
"Of course not" Ben smiled "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me"

"Ah, thanks boss" Lillylia said.

"Thanks TO YOU, to trust me about it" Ben replied, putting gwen's book inside the tree "This is your hiding spot after all"

Ben was relieved to have found a hiding spot for his Gwen's spell book.
The ironic thing was that up to five years ago he probably would have complained that he had received a BOOK as a gift, especially if coming from the same cousin who was once a pain in his backside.

He already missed her so much.

"Well, since we are here we might as well eat the tarts!" Lillylia took the two tarts hidden in the tree "Would you like some?" she offered, handing one of the two to Ben, while the other one she splitted it in two to share it with Jades.

"Er, I'm not sure ..." Ben muttered, eyeing the slice of tart suspiciously.

By necessity he had to eat at least some of the food that was offered to him, but that didn't mean that he trusted the alien cuisine.
Not to mention that the tart's jam had a strange color ... was it blue ... Indigo?

"Come on boss, I told you they are delicious" Lillylia chuckled "I mean, It's no coincidence that they are the favorites of Empress Attea, and she has REALLY difficult tastes"
"She's right" Jades added "At least try a bite, if you don't like it then you don't have to eat it"

"Okay, okay, I'll try it" the human sighed.

He tried a taste and ...
… It wasn't bad at all.

Ben blinked in surprise.

"So? What do you think? Was I right or was I right?" Lillyilia smiled in trepidation.

"You said "I'm right" twice" Ben replied, however, continuing to eat.

"Because I know that I am!"

The jam tasted very similar to mango, only sweeter, a sweet that however didn't bother too much combined with the shortcrust pastry.
It was good, really good …
-… So, it's not just because it's a royal color that you like the Indigo, uh Attea?- the boy thought with a ironic grin on his lips.

"The jam is made by a fruit called Prape" Jades said "On this planet it is cultivated in large quantities thanks its hot and humid climate"

"I see, thanks for letting me try it, it's very good"

"Achoo!" A small sneeze caught their attention after they had left the hiding place.

"Ooh, look! Someone just woke up from his nap" Ben chuckled, looking at Specter.
The little necrofriggian had dozed off on his shoulder immediately after the departure of Gwen and the others.

Eh, pulling Kevin's hair must have been tiring for him.

"Aawwh, look at him! He's sooo adorable" Lillylia made an ecstatic verse.
"And cuuute …" Jades added, pressing her hands on her cheeks.
"… And incredibly small for a necroffrigian of his age" a male voice suddenly commented behind them.

"Oh, master Nobody!" Lillylia exclaimed, bowing her head respectfully "I hadn't seen you in the garden"

Ben turned to face another Rospus-like Incursean, only slightly older judging from the wrinkles around his eyes.
Despite this, he had an very imposing and robust appearance, his hands were wide, hard and calloused, typical of those used to working hard but at the same time the clothes he wore certainly didn't seem like those of a servant or a regular Incursean soldier …
They looked more like those of a Lord.

Not to mention that Lillylia had just defined him with the title of "Master".

He had bottle green skin and dark blue eyes, like a stormy sea.
Or, at least, one of them was like that, cause' the other eye was more clear, opaque ...

-It's blind- Ben realized, surprised.

"Hello Lillylia" the Incursean greeted in an extraordinarily polite tone that Ben didn't expect, not from an Incursean "How are you?"
"Very well, thank you sir" the girl answered smiling.

She seemed strangely comfortable talking to him, despite he was an Incursean.

"Jades" the alien frog continued, looking at the other servant.

"Master Nobody …" she greeted.

Only then, his gaze falled on Ben "Ah, greetings to you too, young warrior"

-Young warrior?-
"Oh, uh … hello?" Ben wasn't sure how to behave, if it was someone like Rospus or some other Incursean servant he probably would have answered badly, or he wouldn't have answered at all, considering the subjects.

But this guy ...

He certainly didn't convey the same aura of superiority or malevolence as Rospus, nor of racism towards other species than weren't the Incursean one.

"I didn't expect to find you in the gardens, but it's really a nice day, it would have been a shame to spend it closed in the palace"
"Yeah, I guess so ... uh, sir …?"

"My lord, this is Master Nobody" Jades came to his aid "Former high commander of the Incursean army and current weapon master, he was one of the strongest soldiers of his generation" she continued "Now he is in charge of training new recruits, or at least some of them, the best soldiers came out of his armory, including Empress Attea actually"
"Wait, YOU trained Attea?" Ben said surprised.
"Indeed I did, emperor Milleous entrusted her education in the arts of war to me because he knew I was the best, he ALWAYS knew that …" the last part of the sentence seemed directed more to himself than to Ben, in a tone that smelled of rancor.

"… In all honesty, I have to admit that our empress was one of the best students I have ever had in the last twenty years" the old soldier concluded.

"Wow …"

Well, now he knew from who she had learned to fight so good.

"Master Nobody, he is …"
"You can save formal presentations dear, I know very well who this boy is" Nobody stopped Jades "In fact I doubt that there is still someone here who doesn't know you, Benjamin Tennyson, especially after the wedding"

"Really? Now that you've mentioned it, I actually don't remember seeing you there" Ben noticed, raising an annoyed eyebrow at the mention of the wedding.

"Oh right, I guess I owe you too my most sincere apologies for my absence" the Incursean admitted "But I will tell you what I already told to your wife little while ago, formal events and parties definitely never were for me"
"Did you see Attea little while ago?"
"Yes, I met her in the garden a little while ago, she seemed thoughtful" Nobody said "Anyway, I must say I have followed your "hero" career with extreme interest, you managed to do extraordinary things with the Omnitrix for being so young"

"Uh, thanks …?"

"Do you mind if I take a look on it?" Nobody asked, holding out a hand.

"I don't think it's the case" Ben replied suspiciously.
"Please, do you really think I would try to steal it from you right here? Right now?" the alien frog declared "Beside, I know that the First Thinker has programmed his creation so that it answers only to you"

Well, effectively …

However, Nobody took Ben's wrist before he could take a decision, bringing the Omnitrix to his eye level.

"Hey! Who told you to touch?" Ben protested.

Nobody's grip was strong, but not tight enough to hurt him.
"Ah, I see that it's a different model from the last photos I saw on Extranet" he simply commented "This seems easier to access the list of available alien forms, although I wouldn't use it anyway …" then he let go of Ben's wrist.
"Er, you're aware that we're talking about the most powerful device in the universe, right?" the human replied, perplexed "Everyone would desire to use it"
-Often for the wrong reasons- he thought.

"And fight inside a body that's not what i was born into? No thanks" was the replica of the Incursean "I am more for the old school, hell, if it was up to me, I wouldn't even rely on guns"

"Really? Why?"

"Guns are the weapons of cowards!" and he looked mortally serious as he said it "The most honorable way to fight is the hand-to-hand combat or with the blade, which reminds me …"
He pulled something out of his tunic and then handed it to Ben "This is for you"

"What is it?"

"Your wedding gift …"
… Wait, was it ... was it the sheath of a DAGGER?

"I don't think you're an expert on weapons, but this one is special" Nobody explained "The blade of this dagger is made of obsidian vibranium, a very rare alloy …" he said "… Difficult to work because it's extremely hard, alloys like this take a long time to be sharpened"

Ben pulled the dagger out of its scabbard.
The blade was approximately 11 inches long with a double curve line and it was shiny black crossed by green veins.

Towards the tip it assumed transparency similar to glass.

"Ben-Ben!" Specter leaned forward to look better, curious.
He even tried to reach out one of his little hands to touch it "Wooow, don't even think about it Specter!" Ben said, pulling the dagger away as far as he could "You could cut yourself"

"This dagger belongs to a couple of twins, there are ONLY two blades made like this" Nobody concluded "Attea has the other one, I thought they were the best gift for a married couple of warriors"

"Thanks, I suppose …" Ben murmured in surprise.

"Very well, now if you don't mind I think I'll go back to my walk" master Nobody said, starting to move away "Oh! In case you want to learn how to use that dagger properly, come and visit me in the armory" he added before finally taking his leave.
"I would be happy to see the hero of the universe in action, and who knows? Maybe you could also train with your wife sometimes, Jades, Lillylia …" he greeted the servants with an polite nod, after that he went away.

...

Well, despite everything, it seems that Ben is bonding well with his new friends ^^
And then, we finally got to know Master Nobody! Weapon master as well as the one who taught Attea to fight.
His appearance should answer the question asked me by lobo solitario, (thank you very much for your interest in this story, my friend J).

And I take this opportunity to thank Dinobot King for the "Prape" tards ^^ and all of you who are commenting or even just reading my story.

In the next chapter we'll finally have Looma vs Attea! So get ready for some action.