Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. Like the egg it hatched from, it is a very shiny gold.

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.

The strangely named hatchling All Happinesses Leaving, or just "Ess" as she prefers to be called, has an appropriately strange job in Kad's clan. Just inside the clan nest, beyond the gatekeeper The Last Warning, lies a small hollow full of dried berry pits and half-gnawed bones. Ess spends her time in this alcove, saying goodbyes to the rare visitors. She only perks up when some unfamiliar dragon (or once, an actual human—why, those were supposed to be nonexistent) comes by. It is Ess's duty to make sure they leave relatively happy and do not report on any violence erupting in the back of the cave.