The Plumbers, Gwen realizes, do much more than she ever thought. She kind of thought they were mainly humans who just reinforced the kingdoms laws.

She's couldn't be more wrong if she tried. She blames the sheltered life she's lived most of her life for not knowing this information. Some part of her feels like what is in here though isn't the most public knowledge either.

She follows Ben through a large open room, Plumbers are rushing around her trying to get back into the grove of their jobs.

The Plumbers aren't all humans either she realizes. A variety of aliens are in this room working alongside humans. She can identify some of the species but not all of them. She's buzzing with excitement at meeting all these people. She thinks about all the life experiences they've had that are so different from hers. She doesn't know who she wants to meet or talk to first.

The room they're in has obviously been repurposed from it's original use. Gwen thinks maybe it was a ball room from the high ceilings and many intricate and ornate tapestries that line the walls. There is also the massive multipaned windows that showcase the courtyard as well. Desks litter the whole room with various things thrown onto them. Paperwork, weapons, and various materials Gwen has never seen.

She thinks Ken would have loved this, all the new materials and working with so many different minds. Her face falls thinking about her brother. She hopes he's okay. Kevin didn't really mention what he had done with her brother, just that he was safe and in the city.

She knows Ken can take care of himself; he is the oldest. She's just lucky Kevin didn't arrest or criminalize either of them. That thought doesn't sit well with her. Ken was so impulsive and never thought anything through, it wasn't surprising to her that he attacked Kevin. If he saw what was happening here, he would probably think Kevin was holding the Plumbers captive.

It's definitely better that Ken's not here, she finally decides.

"Gwen are you listening?" Ben's hand waves in front of her face.

Gwen looks at him and realizes she hadn't been following him and was just standing on the outskirts of the room staring.

"Sorry, I was just thinking how much I never knew about the Plumbers." she replies with her smile tight.

Ben looks over her once, seemingly not believing her, but he shrugs it off.

"Yeah, there is a lot we don't let the public in on." Ben begins looking around the shared office space.

"Like Kevin?" Gwen replies side glancing at Ben knowingly.

"That's," he pauses to think, his hand goes up and pushes his hair back, "That's a special case." Ben finally settles on.

"Is he really the prince?" she asks. "Because everyone thinks he's dead."

Ben's face twists, he doesn't reply immediately. "Yes, he is, but again that's-"

"Complicated?" Gwen finishes with a sigh.

Ben nods in agreement.

"It's been complicated for a while now; I shouldn't be telling you this though. Kevin will tell you when he's ready." Ben settles closing the conversation.

She scoffs at that idea. Kevin will never let her know about him. She is insanely curious to know about what is going on though.

Before the two can continue the tour a new voice chimes in.

"Ben! There you are," a man around their age comes up to Ben, he's in a Plumbers uniform and looks human for the most part, his blonde hair is strangely immaculate. "Pierce wanted me to give you the progress update on the truck we found." He says smoothly and hands over a few forms to Ben.

"Thanks, Grandpa will want to look at this." Ben folds the papers and puts them away in his pockets.

The new person makes eye contact with Gwen and her face flushes slightly. He's very handsome too, she notes.

"Who is this, a new recruit? I didn't think we hired anyone yet." He asks, tilting his head slightly.

"Oh, this is Gwen! Kevin hired her actually." Ben remarks introducing them.

"Gwen this is Mike Morningstar, he's a part of the special task force team and runs most of our intel on new leads."

Mike steps forward holding his hand out for Gwen to shake, "Oh please he's being too modest, I'm just a very persuasive person when I need to be." Mike chuckles lightly. When their hands meet, a small spark comes from the contact.

Mike's face lights up as he looks up at Gwen, "You have powers too? That's never happened before with another human?" he asks excitedly.

"Uhm, I guess? It's more like mana manipulation." Gwen responds with a small smile on her face.

"So, what position did our prince hire you for?" Mike asks and looks over to Ben, "I didn't know Kevin was hiring for any positions."

Gwen opens her mouth to respond but Ben cuts her off, "Sorry Morningstar, but that's confidential right now. You understand right?" Ben rushes out and pushes Gwen forward.

"I have to continue showing Gwen around, but thanks for the paperwork! I'll make sure Grandpa gets it!" Ben waves back.

Gwen turns and gives Ben a puzzled look.

"That was rude." She moves aside out of Ben's reach and falls into step next to him.

"Sorry, I just didn't want him knowing why Kevin hired you. There's some information that not everyone here needs to know right now." Ben states gesturing for her to follow him into another room.

"So, you're keeping secrets amongst yourselves too? Doesn't that seem counterproductive?" she remarks dryly.

Ben rolls his eyes at her before responding, "We have a mole right now. And his team is our biggest lead on who it is. I don't need him digging for information about Kevin right now." Ben's voice is light, but the tone isn't.

"The only people who need to know about you are Kevin, Grandpa Max, Rook, and probably Argit." Ben's face scrunches up at the last name in distaste, "Argit knowing is already pushing how many people should know why or how you're here."

Gwen nods in response. "What is the mole doing?" she asks.

"Well," Ben looks around to make sure they're alone in the hall. "right now, they're stealing our Plumber issued weapons and technology and as far as we know..." Ben's face scrunches up in annoyance, "We think they are also kidnapping aliens and trapping them back in Undertown." he says with distain.

"What?" Gwen's in shock by that information. "Isn't that the exact opposite of-"

"The morals and values our kingdom is built on?" He states in a flat tone.

"We thought it was a few select humans just getting away with some hate crimes." he pauses and makes a face at that statement too. "Since the public thinks all the royal family is dead the peace between humans and aliens has been dwindling significantly over the past decade."

"But that's not true, Kevin's here." she states.

Ben grabs Gwen and leads her down a different hall, back towards the living quarters her room resides in.

"Gwen did you grow up in a town that was intermingled? Or did you come from a human village?" Ben asks her.

Gwen's face falls thinking about her small village. It was only humans; it was all she really knew. She also knew that she never felt like it was enough for her. She thinks that maybe when she was very little, she couldn't have been more than three or four, that her family lived in a much bigger city.

She can't remember that far back. She knows her family moved back out towards the edge of the kingdom's horizon, where mainly human villagers were. Her parents never really discussed why they moved. Ken was little too, but his memory was much better than hers.

He didn't like talking about anything that involved remembering their parents. Gwen's closest interactions to aliens before this were her studies from the various books Mr. Baumann carried for her.

"I came from a human village," she responds to Ben, "but I don't see where you're going with this."

Ben finally drags Gwen to the end of one of the larger halls, and against the wall is one of those large royal family portraits.

The portrait shows two adults, with midnight black hair. The man on the left stands tall and seems very proud, he looks mostly human in appearance, but there are some small, rounded, horns on his forehead. His face is set with a strong jaw and a small smirk lays on his face. His face is kind in the same way Mr. Baumann's is, Gwen thinks. Just a much younger version.

The woman on the right stands next to him, her hand disappears behind the man's back. She looks to be completely human, with no features like the man next to her. Her hair lays in a braid disappearing behind her back. A wide smile graces her face, smile lines are on the outer corner of her eyes. Her face is much softer than the man next to her. Her other hand lands softly on the shoulder of a small boy who is in front.

He can't be more than ten and his smile is as wide as his mothers. His hair just as black and brushes against the top of his shoulders. He holds himself tall, as if trying to imitate his father's stance.

They all look to be indescribably happy.

"That's the royal family." Ben states. "The king was Osmosian, but he married a human woman. He truly believed in the blending of our divided societies. He dedicated his whole life to it."

"That's Kevin." Gwen says softly, staring at the portrait. Her eyes didn't leave the small boy.

"What happened Ben?" She turns to her partner now loaded with even more questions.

"That's for Kevin to tell you." He replies smiling softly at Gwen. "Come on let's go back to Kevin's study." Ben turns to lead them back the way they came.

"I need to give these papers to Grandpa anyway."

Ben starts walking ahead without Gwen. She stalls a little too long behind him, staring at the family portrait in confusion.