Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It’s very festively colored.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing.

Young dragons are relatively defenseless. They are born with relatively soft scales, which are shed and replaced with harder ones as the hatchling matures. Once a hatchling’s wings grow in, it typically marks the beginning of maturation. At this point they are often capable of hunting on their own and are usually left alone by their mother.

While the Year's Children are traditionally said to number eight, some modern tales add two more to the count. Sugarplum Wildling is the spirit of mischief and chaos, spreading havoc wherever she goes. Hatchlings who have been especially naughty will awaken on Christmas Day to find she has left them a broken toy and a small piece of peppermint candy—an incentive for better behavior next year and a consolation gift. At least, that's how the story goes. In truth, any presents are left by the hatchling's parents, for even if Sugarplum Wildling weren't too scattered to organize any sort of gift-giving effort, she'd be more inclined to reward naughtiness than to punish it. Though not malicious at heart, she has little concern for rules or consequences, being more thoughtless and careless than the hatchlings her gifts are meant to punish.