Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It has a large, shield-like object at the end of its tail that it uses for protection.

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.

Every army has to have its low level soldiers; if one runs a Guardian family like an army, not all family members can become officers. This dragon showed little promise for a career as an officer, so she became an enlisted hatchling in the Guardian army. Finally, the officers had someone to command and to play with.