Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It’s brightly colored and chirps quite often.

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.

This hatchling was forced out of its egg prematurely.

Contagion developed a horrible and debilitating disease upon hatching, probably as a result of being forced to hatch early. Her case of Pink was especially strong and those who kindly took her in debated what should be done with her. Many feared Pink was a disease similar to leprosy and might spread to the rest of the cave. Yet the kind leaders of the cave did not want to abandon her despite her horrid condition.

Much research revealed that Pink, like leprosy, actually isn't that contagious. Still, the decision was made to freeze Contagion just in case, since a full blown case of Pink in an adult would surely be far worse than a juvenile case. The now ever-young dragon is eternally grateful for this kindness and shows her gratitude by hiding her Pinkness in dust and shadow whenever she can.