Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. Despite being as black as outer space, it has a few bright patterns on it.

And look! It has grown wings and its scales have gained beautiful patterns. 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.

For some reason, some dragons fail to grow up, or grow up very slowly. Ashgabat is one of those. He lives in an area between a desert and mountain range meant for hatchlings and fledglings, occasionally lecturing them on botany, and psychology. They know very well his age and treat him as an adult. His girlfriend is only 22 years his senior, but she looks much older, and the poor dragon gets a lot of flak from strangers for courting a "hatchling".