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.

Nasta'liq is as cheerful as would be expected from a dragon of his breed.  His egg was found outside the cave entrance on Christmas morning, though the dragons of Mount Shanidar clan had no idea of the significance of the day.  The little hatching looks so strange that few of the dragons know what to do with him.  His only friend is a young Guardian hatchling who protects him from being picked on.  None of this seems to bother him, however, and he spends his days prancing about happily, playing games by himself if no one else will.