Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It occasionally shoots small puffs of smoke from its nose, like it’s trying to breathe fire.

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.

Lexiel Aidan-- or "Zorb" as she is known to her incorrigible fellow hatchlings, this being the only sound she would utter for weeks after hatching from her egg-- is a champion at finding lost objects. A patch of earth that any human would have trodden underfoot will sing to her of the gold coin buried deep beneath it, and her little claws will scratch the soil away until it's found. Even when the things she finds have no apparent value, she will find some use for them; a brass ring becomes a link in a chain, a wooden box lid a ramp for Shine Rush and Lace to play on, and a seashell, a drinking bowl for Cheereep.