Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It’s adventurous and very brightly 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.

Xiazn is a playful hatchling who likes to see the random effects of magic on the things he passes. Laundry reverses colors, snowflakes fall on fresh-baked pies cooling on a windowsill, gusts of wind cause curtains to blow open at embarrassing moments, silverware dances across a table, and livestock suddenly winds up on the roof. Villagers consider this hatchling somewhat of a curse, and hope someday to gain one of his scales—one way or another—to make up for all the mischief.