Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It is quite serene and has a pair of tendrils growing from its back.

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.

Krism has several pyralspite little brothers and sisters, all adopted by accident. Many times, he ventured out in secret (as adolescents do) to a familiar land cave and hauled the pretty red jewels back to his parents' warm undersea cave. Then the eggs hatched, and he had a lot of baby dragons on his hands, way too many to keep a secret. He spun a story about "growing" living garnets to his father. He was displeased but still helped Krism gather a group of adults who could take care of the gaggle of hatchlings. Krism put his magic training at a halt for a few years to keep the little ones entertained. He loves them all and is not sorry at all he took the eggs with him.