Ember and the Black Ring 1: The Red Prince

2013, and a rare occurrence had befallen the Isle of St. Kilda, which brought joy to the people of the Avalarian Kingdom of the Isles: Good weather. For once, the winds had died down and the sun was shining generously over their island home; the same could be said from Shetland to Orkney: If not for the Empress Ddraigtanto, Ember's mother's liege, and her declaration of war on the neighbouring Empire of Sekeolath a few weeks prior, the day would've been utterly perfect.

This Avalarian kingdom was ruled by Queen Sasha the Gentle of House Springdawn. Her daughter, Princess Ember Springdawn, was sleeping softly in her bed, even as thick bars of sunlight shone through her windows, slowly cooking her under her sheets. It would not do to waste such pleasant weather, not when she would be entertaining guests...

"Ember, darling..." Sasha purred into her daughter's ear, her soft tone danced along a Scottish lilt as she spoke. "Ember..." Sasha gently shook the resting child, brining her out of her sleep. "...Ah, there's my young princess. Come now Ember, you've got to get up. Or have you forgotten who we're to be meeting today?"
She stirred, grumbling as she slowly returned to consciousness. "Oh..." she groaned. "What time is it?"
"Seven-thirty, in the morning." Sasha replied. "Come on dear, you don't want to be late for Prince Flame's arrival from the Balearic Islands now, do you?"
That did the trick, Ember bolted up right. "Flame? Oh my! Oh could you let me oversleep like that?! Flame's coming!" She jumped out of bed, wiping sleep from her eyes as she went. "Is he here yet? Do I still have time to get ready?"
Sasha chuckled. "Of course, dear. His father's ship isn't due to arrive until nine. You've got plenty of time to have breakfast and tidy yourself up for him. There's no rush."
But Ember had flown off into her own little world, throwing over her neck her characteristic heart-shaped ruby pendant and searching through gowns, jewellery and other accessories. "Oh, god, whatever should I wear? I want to look like I've made an effort! I've missed him so much, emails and video chat can only do so much."
"Ember, darling, calm down." Sasha smiled, padding over and hugging her young daughter. "...Don't worry. Flame has always thought you a beautiful young girl. Just be yourself, and don't worry about if he's going to like you or not. He wouldn't have made the effort to cross the seas like this if he didn't want to be with you."
With that, Sasha gave her daughter a quick kiss on her forehead, and left her to get up. The little dragoness stretched and yawned under her sheets, which made a convincing offer to look the other way if she stole another five minutes underneath them. She blinked herself awake, her eyes resting on her end table. She reached over and picked up a small, framed picture: A picture of handsome, middle-aged red dragon, with a white underbelly and a kindly smile under bright eyes. Ember smiled sadly as she gazed at the image, kissing her paw and resting it against the glass cover. "Morning Dad..." She spoke gently, before setting down the picture, and getting up and ready for the day...

Ember and Flame were both very young, both barely 11 dragonyears old, but they were already fairly smitten to one another. Out of the two, Flame was slightly older, being born in 1900 (compared to Ember, who was born in 1903).
Both dragons were dragons of quite some significance. Flame was the only son of King Korinth of the Avalarian Balearic Islands, and was his heir, as Ember was Sasha's. Their relationship had been gently encouraged by both families for years, as an opportunity to merge their houses and unite their kingdoms; they were very far away from one another, but their friendship was unshakable... Even if Flame was very childish compared to Ember.

In the end, Ember had conceded to her mother's wisdom, and had simply kept to her necklace and having an hour long session of soaking in a hot bath, brushing teeth, polishing claws and horns and oiling her wing membranes so their were glossy, moisturised and soft to the touch.
She sat with her mother on the city's transit harbour. The smell of sea salt hung in the air and seagulls cried as they circled the port. The young dragoness buzzed with excitement as she sat at her mother's side.
"Look! Look!" Ember cried, pointing. "The ships! They're here!"
On the horizon was a number of small Avalarian warships, flying the flags of the Balearic Islands. One of the ships broke away from the formation and docked into the harbour, escorted by two smaller patrol boats. From the patrol boats came a number of men from Korinth's Royal Guard who lined up and stood to attention as the king, the queen and his son disembarked.
On any other occasion, Ember would maintained some restrain, but not for Flame: She cried out in joy and ran over, hugging him.
"Flame!" She cried, as she continued to squeeze the life out of him. "Ooh, it's you! It's actually you!"
"Yeah, Ember, it's me..." He choked, trying to wriggle himself some breathing room as Ember remembered her own strength and relinquished her grip, blushing.
"Was, was your trip okay?" She asked. "It's been too long since we caught up."
The red dragon chuckled. "We talked online just last night. The ship was fine, but the waters are choppy, and it's too cold up here." He smiled, cuddling the pink dragoness in return. "But I do admit, it's been too long since we were last together, in the flesh..."

The two households, House Springdawn and House Cabrera (Flame's family name), walked back to the palace. Korinth and Selturir, Flame's mother, weren't planning on staying long: Selturir would be sailing back to the Balearic Islands, and Korinth, as the High Admiral of the Avalarian Naval under the Empress, was to be leading the navy into war. Sekeolath was the aggressor, having declared war on the Kingdom of Denmark; naturally, Avalar jumped to defend their ally and neighbour, but it did mean that able-bodied men like Korinth would be needed, and he refused to shy away from duty: His father, Kemen De Cabrera, had been a proud and infallible warrior of the Middle Ages, hired by the Christian Spanish, hundreds of years ago, to take back the Balearic Islands from its Muslim rulers. But when they failed to pay him his dues, he rose up and took the islands for himself, giving himself a kingdom, and his descendants a worthy inheritance.

...However, Sasha had her worries; her husband, the late King Torch, died in 2005, an early casualty of Malefor's second return to the world, never having the chance to see The Dark Master's ultimate failure and defeat in 2007. Ember and Sasha had never been quite the same since, and the Scottish queen was very nervous about people she cared about going off to war.

"Oh, good king, must you go off to fight like this?" Sasha asked over a cup of tea. "The Empress is a good friend of both our families. Surely if you only ask, she would understand if you back out of the war?"
He laughed aloud. "Back out of a war?! My dear friend, I couldn't abandon the call to duty from my liege, even if I wanted to. Ddraigtanto helped us, she took in our realms and has kept us economically strong long before we bent the knee to her. It is time I return the favour. I have my family to protect, and I shall fight for them and the empire."
"Yeah!" Flame smirked. "He's going to kick those Sekeolasian invaders back to Sekeolath! He'll overthrow Empress Nightshade and restore the rightful queen to their kingdom." He looked up at his father, he understood the dangers, Nightshade had kidnapped King Korinth once before, and so there was a subtle demand for revenge ever since.
"But Korinth, sir..." Ember spoke. "We all know you're a great dragon, and a good king. Surely you'd be better suited at home, so you can lead your people and be there for Selturir and Flame?"
The great, red fire dragon king paused, frowning. "...You are too kind, young princess. I know you mean well, you have a good heart. But this is my duty." He smiled, looking to Sasha. "You have a caring daughter, Queen Sasha. She'll be a caring queen one day."

Korinth couldn't stay long, his ships were blocking up St. Kilda's tiny harbour, and fishermen and trading boats wanted to dock and offload their wares. With a kiss and a fond word, Selturir and Korinth went their separate ways, leaving Flame with Ember and her mother on the island; he'd miss them during his time with Ember, but he was happy nonetheless.

Flame was a cheerful, confident dragon, with a carefree personality which seemed to come almost in spite of his upbringing, which was even stricter than that of Ember's, whose mother was much softer in her authoritative stance. It wasn't Korinth's fault he was how he was towards his son: He was born in 1513, and had a very traditional, authoritarian upbringing; the only area where Korinth's father had given him some freedom was in who he married, for he'd fallen utterly head over heels in love with Selturir, a lowborn daughter and barmaid for a tavern owner on the island where Korinth had grown up; it was Selturir's gentle but assertive nature which tempered her husband's fire, and made him a better parent than his father.

...That personality of his was at its peak when he was in the company of Ember, and they spared no time talking a walk about the castle town as they caught up on lost time.
"It's a very rare thing indeed, seeing the sun over this little island of yours." Flame smirked, his slight Majorcan accent was in stark contrast to the Scottish lilt Ember had inherited from her mother.
"Aye, it is indeed." She nodded. "It'd be a shame to waste it indoors. We get an entire week of this, according to the British MET Office. The beach is really nice in this climate. We've put up some wind turbines to take advantage of our windy climate, and look!" She jumped up into the air, flying upwards as a curious Flame followed; she pointed to a huge orchard of new woodland. "Trees! We're going to plant trees on the island. A little forest..." She grinned. "It took a team of nature dragons ages, but we've managed to make a kind of tree with roots strong enough to handle the wind." She swooped down, and gently settled down on the pavement again, Flame landing alongside.
Flame scoffed. "We've always had trees on my islands." He teased.
"Quiet, you! This is cool!" The pink dragon jabbed. "We've gone from a tiny little island of 300 people, into a capital of an Avalarian kingdom with more than 5000 people living here. There'll be even more people here soon! It's my kingdom, it's cool Flame, it's cool."
"Alright, alright. Chill out. You're about two steps off going all crazyface on me again."
"Crazyface?!?"
Flame shrunk back. "Ah, there it is..." He squeaked, grinning nervously. "...I love you?"