Thankfully, Ember calmed down as she caught sight of the town market assembling for trade that morning; food, drink and other baubles and pretty things were placed upon scenic little stalls and outside shops to be traded that day: The sight was exciting, the smell enticing. Ember had seen it all before, but fond memories and exciting bargains never dulled in the face of her sheer enthusiasm.

Ember had gotten her heart necklace from this marketplace years ago, she could remember it like it was just yesterday: She was but a little hatchling of four years, huddled under the back of her parent's legs as she'd gone into the market for the first time. A trader from overseas had docked up, selling an array of magic items, brining different benefits: The necklace had been there, and the little dragoness begged her parents to buy it for her. She could remember her mother smiling, and telling her to ask her father; she could remember putting on her cutest face and her biggest, puppy-dog eyes and begging her father to buy it for her; and she could remember him laugh, and smile, and give in. The necklace was much, much too big for her back then, but she loved it dearly, and wore it every day ever since. The necklace's red, heart-cut ruby had an echantment upon it which supposedly gave the wearer the power to heal people of their smaller wounds without leaving scars, but she'd never used it for that: The necklace gave her happy memories of her father, and cherished that above any sort of magic.

Ember happily sunk her teeth into a beef pastry from a food stall, some of the traders of cheaper goods had no qualms in giving their homeland's princess free stuff, and she had no qualms in taking and merrily eating it; however, other stalls offered far more expensive and high-ticket items, such items couldn't really be given away when the trade was the sole means the traders earned their living, even when the princess of their island home wandered the markets with her Spanish boyfriend.
"Oooh!" Ember cooed: "Look!" She darted over to the jeweller's stall, which was set up just outside his shop, where he either made his own jewellery with materials orders from overseas, or bought and sold imported jewellery: In his stall was a wide range of specially imported, magic bracelets, necklaces, amulets and rings; all of which arranged in neat rows on display atop his stall.
"Do you really need more jewellery?" Flame asked as he watched Ember browse the wares.
"Is that a trick question?" She smirked.
"You hardly even wear it. All you ever wear is that necklace."
"...So?" She pouted. "It's nice to have!" She stuck out her tongue at him, and returned to looking at the glittering array as Flame smirked and shrugged. Her eyes settled on something rather strange: A simple, white-gold ring, etched with draconic runes, with a black diamond set into its face.
"Wow, this is pretty." She spoke, admiring the ring.
"Ah, that..." The shopkeeper, a rather aged dragon artisan, spoke up. "That's quite a rarity. The Ring of Shadows, wearing that ring gives you the power to cast yourself into a shadow veil, like shadow dragons. It's great for hiding and stealthy endeavours."
"Cool." Ember smiled. "How much is it?"
The shopkeeper grinned, and pointed to a sign, and Ember's smile vanished.
"A thousand drakemarks?!" She blurted. "That, that's an awful lot for a ring."
"...It is." Shopkeep nodded. "...But how many pieces of jewellery give you the power of other dragon elements?"
Ember sighed, she hadn't expected something to cost that much, she didn't carry a lot of money on her person.
"I could buy it for you?" Flame offered.
"Flame, no!" She gasped. "I can't possibly ask you to spend that much money on me! That's insane." She winced, turning to the shopkeeper. "Sorry. It's really pretty though..."

Ember had to hand it to Flame: Childishness aside, he was a very good-natured dragon, and had a great mature and charitable side to his character. She was lucky to have him.
...Her encounter with The Ring of Shadows had left her with rings on the brain: She didn't normally wear darker jewellery (that was more Cynder's expertise), but Ember could make that kind of thing work, right?
...Asking Flame, he laughed: As far as he was concerned, she'd never be able to pull off dark jewellery.
Ember pouted for a while after his verdict, determined to prove him wrong somehow...

The two dragons soon settled down to lunch at a cafe on one of the harbour's piers. Ember's pasty from before had worn off and so, in her hunger, she had no issues with Flame buying them both lunch.
"...Perhaps I could be proven wrong." The red dragon muttered over a sandwich. "...If I saw you in darker jewellery than normal, and you did look really good, maybe, maybe I'll give in and agree with you..." He smirked. "I still think you're cute enough already though. I don't see why you're so obsessed... Your family is quite well off, maybe your mother will buy you that ring for a birthday present or something?"
"Maybe..." Ember nodded, caught up in a small track of her own thought. "...It'd be cool to be able to shadow veil like Cynder." She concluded: "...I'd always be able to win hide and seek, every time for the rest of my life."
Her boyfriend chuckled. "As if, you wouldn't even know what to do with a power like that. And you'd get bored with it eventually."
"I wouldn't!" She protested. "I'd be the best shadow dragoness ever! I'd show you!"
"Would not."
"Would too!" She huffed. "...I'm not going to be childish about this, Flame. If I ever get that ring, we'll see how good a shadow dragon I'd make."
But Flame wasn't finished teasing. "With those cute pink curves of yours, you'd no be winning any hide and seek games with Cynder, that's for sure."
Ah, he had her cornered: Take the compliment and lose the argument, or argue the toss? Nope, she was blushing: She loved it when he talked nice to her. She leaned over and kissed his cheek, and then it was his turn to blush furiously; the argument rather lost its momentum after that...

Ember didn't really have the heart to hold angry sentiments with anybody for long, least of all Flame. They were both very young, unusually young to have a relationship like theirs, but they'd known each other since they were little, and had been gently groomed into liking each other. They'd been through a lot together, and he was very supportive of Ember when her dad died. They may not have been very romantic with one another, and anything more intimate than kissing and deep embrace was beyond their prepubescent minds; however, they cared very much for one another, and neither dragon nor dragoness could quite imagine their lives without the companionship provided by the other.

Time ticked on from a comfortable afternoon to a picturesque evening; they'd both lost track of time, as was a bad habit of theirs: It looked like their trip to the beach might have to wait until tomorrow...