Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It spends its time pouncing on insects.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing. It is also now covered in brightly colored stripes.

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.

Ladislaus is one of the more interesting war orphans living in Tayli. Even though he is young, he is extremely vain of his appearance. He finds himself to be exotically attractive and preens himself daily, ensuring that he always looks his best. The adults worry that his attitude may be hiding whatever emotional scars from the war he picked up, but in the meantime, they just let him have his mirror and leave him be.