Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It seems to be attracted to mana and tends to cuddle by the nearest source.

And look! It has grown larger. 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.

Tinyflop resents the hatchname she was given because it's not accurate.

Well, all right, so it's accurate.

For now.

For now, her wings are not quite strong enough to clear the surface tension of the water. For now, she has to work really hard to even make it up into the air.

And for now, while she is certainly the best of the Painted Ray hatchlings at leaping from the water, she always comes crashing down with a loud, wet SLAP.

When she finishes growing and gets to choose her own name, Tinyflop is sure she will be the highest glider the Painted Ray Clan has ever seen. She'll probably earn a name like Smallchampion or Smallhighestgliderever.

She better keep practicing!