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.

Fallen Redwood of putrid blood

A stunted child of incest and hate

Left for dead in a pit of mud

Loathing kin that propagate

Extra-worthless beasts like he

Never like them will he be.

.

Retarded by his malformed flesh

Exile seemed to do him good

Distance made him look afresh

What he was and what he could.

Oft he listened as he travelled quite far,

One day a drake told him something bizarre:

"Don't worry, it's okay to be what you are."