Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It perfectly depicts autumn weather.

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.

For generations, mother dragons have told their hatchlings tales of the Year's Children—four seasonal hatchlings and their companions, each representing some aspect of their season.  The seasonal hatchlings are said to have mastered teleportation and, in some cases, freezing, while the companions seem to have only the magic natural to a hatchling of that breed.

Belamara, the embodiment of change, is relatively benign.  She's never stolen a hatchling (though many who have met her leave of their own accord once grown), and if she knows the spell for freezing, she's never used it.  Adult dragons sometimes resent Belamara's presence, because hatchlings she's talked to are suddenly much less willing to follow the life plan laid out for them, but the hatchlings themselves are usually delighted to have met her.  Of the four Year's Children, Belamara is the most willing to interact with adult dragons, and most of what is known about the Year's Children comes from interviews with her.