The trip across the plains was pleasant enough for Oliver, and he did enjoy a nice little walk out in the field. Ember was rather casual about the situation, probably because she instigated it. Still, she didn't actually care that she took a member from a group of dragons that were large enough to actual prevent dragons from going to war with each other.
"So, are we going to get to wherever you wanted us to go?" Lovey asked.
Ember scratched the back of her head. "We would be there by now if you could fly," she grumbled.
"Newsflash: I can't use my wings. They weren't part of my original body." Lovey pointed at the empress. "And YOU were the one who wanted me to join you."
"Yes, but keep up with that attitude and I'll leave you to fend for yourself in this...wilderness."
Lovey looked around and frowned. "Oh yes. The mighty grass monsters are going to kill me. Such dire are the straits that this boat will surely be cleft in tway upon contact."
Ember turned her head to look at Lovey with a wide eye. "What?"
The pink dragoness relaxed before resuming. "Nothing."
Ember made a single chuckle. "At least I won't need to teach you about sarcasm."
"Yes. That would be terrible," Lovey mused.
The walking lasted for hours until the duo finally arrived at a depression in the hilly landscape. The ground was charred black, and although some patches of grass remained, they were dried husks of their former selves. Dragons of human sizes and slightly bigger were running around, being extremely aggressive with each other. Some dragons were the gigantic sizes that Scarlet exhibited, but they were preoccupied with sleeping than paying attention to anything around.
"What is this crater? Something fall from the sky?" Lovey asked.
"No. This is just the site of one of the many conflicts between dragon clans before the Lovie Dovies came to be," Ember explained with a smile. "This is where you'll learn to walk, fly, and do all the other things dragons love."
"You mean be draconic?"
Ember looked puzzled. "I don't know what that means."
"You don't need to."
A thin dragon approached the duo on their entry of the crater, wide eyed and smug as a king. "Empress Ember. You've returned, and with a buddy...who is crippled." He bared his claws and looked at Lovey. "Come to be put out of your misery?"
"I may not be able to walk yet, but get close to me with those things and I'll rip them out of your hands and plant them into your hide to serve as substitute claws," Lovey threatened.
"Ooo. A feisty one."
"You just love to be shown as 'amusing' since you failed the gauntlet, don't you, Charr?"
Several more dragons, adolescent by their voices, came close as well.
"What's with the freak?" one of them asked.
"She looks unnatural."
Charr smirked. "Looks like you found a lovie dovie."
The other dragons all exclaimed their disgust rather harshly.
"So that's why she looks like a bunch hearts. That's so baby and pony-like!" one of them said.
Another stepped forward and teased Lovey Dovey even more. "What are we supposed to do with this coward? Why is she even here? It's not enough that she looks like a freak, but now we learn she's a Lovie Dovie? What's she going to do, cry us to stop fighting?"
Lovey's mouth started fuming and crackling with a pink braze and heart shaped smoke.
"Oh, even her fire is pink and heart shaped. How adorable!"
"YOU--!"
Before Lovey could respond, the mocker swiped the pink dragoness onto her feet with a tail sweep. The mocker stomped on Lovey's chest and leaned forward, grinning. Lovey might not be able to walk properly, but she still knew how to fight bipeds. She took the opportunity to twist the dragon's ankle, throwing her onto the floor, then following by claiming atop her assaulter and pummeling her face in. All the while, Lovey's mouth started sparking more and more until her attacker blew fire into her face, blinding her and charring her scales. Not used to such things for obvious reasons, Lovey clutched her face and fell over, letting the mocker kick her several times on the floor.
If it weren't for the other dragons, the mocker would never have been able to walk away on account of her ankle. Ember and Charr both clapped 'poshly' at the display.
"For a Lovie Dovie, she's quite violent," Charr commented. "Is this why you took a shine to her?"
The pink dragoness struggled to push herself up with her hands and glared at Ember with sparking teeth. "Why didn't you help me?"
"Because this is how true dragons are. You fend for yourself." She punched her chest one. "It's how true dragons grow strong!"
Charr huffed. "Well, I have better things to do right now than play with a Lovie Dovie," he spat in disgust. "I have some baby sitting to do."
Lovey tilted her head from confusion. "You're supposed to be super strong and super dangerous, yet you still watch over the children of others?"
Ember and Charr looked at each other briefly before laughing.
"Of course not," Charr said. "I SIT on babies. Much more comfortable than sitting on rocks."
"That's horrible!"
"Pfff. To a Lovie Dovie maybe."
Charr flicked his tail at the pink dragoness and flew off, leaving Lovey to marinate and then boil in her own rage.
"Do you feel that?" Ember asked. Lovey looked up at her. "That's bestial rage. All true dragons have it and use it. It is why 'domesticated' dragons take so long to be able to grow and fully use their abilities." Ember held up her claws and blew fire between them. "This doesn't mean we're supposed to be angry and rude. It's just a side effect of what we need to grow." She leaned down and helped Lovey onto her hands and feet. "Because you're new to this whole thing, and because lovie dovies are weirdos, you're going to need a much more bestial...erm...'digging'?"
"Digging?"
"It's the best term I can think of."
"But I can't be seen walking around like this! It's embarrassing!"
Ember shrugged. "The important part is that you're walking. If you can't walk, then there's no point in being alive, is there?"
Lovey looked away and narrowed her eyes. "I know a few people who would disagree with you there..." The pink dragoness looked at the bottoms of her 'hands' and huffed. "So what now?"
"You move around and see what the others are doing. I have things to talk about with the representatives of every clan. My 'father'," she said with mockery. "thinks that this is a great way to help me build up my controlling skills."
"But--"
"See ya later."
Ember flew away, leaving Lovey Dovey alone with dragons that hated her and a body that wouldn't obey her. Oliver had to be a man about this, but for the first time in many, many years, he felt helpless. He just realized that, up to this point, he had his hand held this whole time. Lovey sat on her butt and took a deep breath. She was about to cry from the sudden realization, but real men don't cry, after all. She needed to gather her wits about her and figure out what to do. The first step was properly using her back legs by trying to bring back that fury and anger. That bestial rage Ember talked about.
"Alright," Lovey inhaled. "Let's do this again."
In the distance, Scarlet and Zoonzu were watching from a distance...rather, Scarlet was watching. Zoonzu was more preoccupied with looking at the clouds.
"I don't like this," Scarlet said. "I know the Pueric Mother told us to go and get her immediately, but I can't go there."
"Why not?" Zoonzu asked with a stuffed mouth.
"I think that this could...Are you eating?"
"Yes."
"What are you eating?"
"The grassy bulb color."
"You mean flowers?"
"Yes. Flowers. Sorry."
"Why are you eating flowers?"
Zoonzu tapped her index fingers together. "Because they looked tasty."
Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "And are they?" she asked. "Are they really?" she insisted.
"N...no...but they are chewy." Zoonzu smiled and tapped her stomach. "Helps with hunger pains."
Scarlet shook her head and resumed 'spying'. "I want to get her out, but at the same time, I want to keep her in there."
"Why?"
"Because she doesn't know how the usual dragons act, and, by her behavior, I can tell she isn't made for actual rough housing no matter whats he says."
"How do you know tha--" Before Zoonzu could finish, she started choking in the flowers and rolling along the floor.
"I've been a lovie dovie long enough to know, especially when they try to hide it." She scratched her chin. "I just don't know why she hides it. There must be SOME reason she behaves that way."
Zoonzu rolled in front of the red dragoness who, unflinching, punched Zoonzu's diaphragm, making the giant spit out the green mush that had formed in her throat.
"Thanking," Zoonzu gasped.