Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It has brightly colored fins on its back.

And look! It has grown larger fins! 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.

A quiet and timid little hatchling, Ikino has a unique tale of how he came to be. He remembers almost nothing of his hatchlinghood; his earliest memory was waking up in the White dragons' cave after Mannix froze him forever because of the severity his injuries. He was told that he was found in a barren clearing with a large, gaping wound in his chest as if he had been stabbed; and, when he woke up, that he was writhing and screeching "Please, not me! I trusted you! Kill them instead!". Ikino doesn't venture far from the infirmary now, for he is still weak and too much travel makes him weary. Passersby can sometimes hear his jumbled, quiet thoughts that range from submissive whimpers to hissing, scathing promises of revenge.