Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It spends a lot of time stalking and pouncing playfully on the tails of adult dragons nearby.

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.

Metaltail is a cute baby dragon, and he makes the most of it while he can. Whenever he plays with butterflies or nibbles on his tail or does other dumb things suited to a much younger dragon, the humans in the town go "aw". They don't know that he's no longer a baby, and they still find his actions endearing, so he keeps doing them. Aside from getting attention, free food, and fond pats from those scaleless, talking beings, he loves the strange "aw" sounds they make so often around him. What a funny noise, and what funny creatures. Those humans are so full of "aw".