Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon... except for the tangle of dangerous-looking vines surrounding it...

Now there are even more vines. Perhaps something is happening?

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.

Hosting a Benevolent Parasite is one of Phoenix's dragons. He is a somewhat generic youngster, adopted from another dragon keeper, and enjoys playing with the hatchlings and driving Phoenix mad by getting into her things.

Parasite particularly looks up to Pelt of Ferns, much to her annoyance, as he follows her around on the rare occasions that she visits the clan from her outpost along the border of Phoenix's lands. Upon learning that she lives underground, he began imitating such practices himself, burrowing under the turf for no reason except fun, and then popping up again to continue on his way, leaving the land looking as if a mole had trekked through. Once, and only once, did he actually dare to tunnel after Fern and intrude on her nest. The encounter was short but by no means sweet, and Parasite ended up fleeing... but certainly not discouraged. Sometimes he considers returning there again, but he can't quite bring himself to, as Fern has very large teeth and a very short temper.