Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It has a large stone on its tail.

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.

Firewing is feisty and territorial even at her young age, and this aggressiveness doesn't always sit well with weaker hatchlings who don't want to play rough. The stone in her tail is not very large compared to most Sunstone hatchlings, but the absence of excess weight makes her much faster in flight. She lacks the control that adult Sunstone dragons have when they fly, and she often crashes after failing to avoid obstacles.