Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It perfectly depicts autumn weather.

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.

When he was a wingless hatchling, Littleleaf's parents starved to death during a brutally harsh winter. Without the protection of a clan, his clutchmates died as well. In a desperate attempt to support himself, Littleleaf of Fallensnow was injured while hunting by an unknown creature. He would have perished had Irayo, head of Fallensnow's search-and-rescue team, not discovered his bloodied body. The clan nursed him back to health, but were forced to amputate his left wing.

From that day forward, he has lived with the Fallensnows. No other clan would take him; whatever injured him, it scarred him to the point of delusion. Littleleaf often seen crouching in the back of the cave, shivering nervously, mumbling about metal claws that shred and tear, and ominous messages from the Keepers of the Stars, telling him to run.

Many of his clanmates believe he is mad, but some, like Khione of Fallensnow, actually take him seriously.