Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It’s very festively colored.

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.

He looks upward at the snow falling, landing on his long eyelashes. He sneezes as he cranes his head to look at the sky. A herd of dragons, striped much like himself, are flying far above the clouds. He catches glimpses of them where the clouds are thin, and he wonders why such large dragons revere his kind. He wonders how they can be considered so different even when they are both striped. He hears a snort and snaps back to attention. The dragon in front of him, his green horns large enough to envy, speaks to him. "We are Holiday Dragons, little one. We cannot be like other dragons. We are special, and the others respect us. It is out of respect that they keep their distance, so do not worry. One day you will understand."