Aww... It’s a cute baby drake. It seems to like you, although it is very hyperactive and difficult to train.

And look! It has grown wings! It must be close to maturing.

Young drakes 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 marks the beginning of maturation. At this point they are often capable of hunting on their own.

Escalita de Sol is a frozen male Ochredrake hatchling of the Featherwing Weyr. Escalita is a loud, rambunctious hatchling who takes pride in the sheer strength of sound he can produce. It has been joked with only a hint of sarcasm that Escalita's particular screeching, yowling shout can be heard from one end of the Weyr's territory to the other, a distance of several hundred miles. Escalita believes his vocal strength to be a sort of superpower that should be used mostly for good and not "evil," though, and takes excellent care of his chords with special herbs and drinks. Still, he can't help but occasionally sneak up behind an adult and, taking a deep breath, unleash one of his adult-sized shouts.