Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It has bright blue eyes, and is as clumsy as any other hatchling, but it never seems to get injured.

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.

"If it turns out you aren't female after all, we'll have to throw you out," Trelawney, the hatchling caretaker, had said this shortly before the Dewsong clan could tell State of the Cave's gender. And it's a good thing State was female--despite her only being a hatchling, and a young one at that, she was already popular among the frozen hatchlings, and her sweet nature made her an angel to the adults the way a kitten is to humans.