Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. Its eyes glow brightly at night, and it enjoys attacking insects and small animals.

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.

Ebony Rain, or Rain, as he prefers to be called, is a breed apart from the other black hatchlings. He has no interest whatsoever in training for battle, or even playing around. He detests such frivolities, and when is asked to join in a game, he retorts with sarcastic comments acidic enough to put the younger female hatchlings in tears. He's taken a great liking to the genius black dragon, Artemys Fowl, who is amused by Rain in turn. The only other hatchling Rain gets along with is Tyran, as they share the love of sarcasm and silver-tongued speech.