This hatchling could hardly be considered cute.

And look! It has grown wings! At least it isn’t quite as naked-looking anymore.

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.

Hecate has long been drawn to what lies beyond the veil. Death is such an unknown in everyday life, and it infuriates her that it is treated like an unsolvable mystery. She will spends hours interrogating the undead alike on what their experiences were, and her frustration at their vague answers is awful to behold. In a society where life is almost infinite, few are interested in helping with her quest, and almost nobody is willing to volunteer as a test subject. Hecate must content herself with sniffing around the dead egg shells in the graveyard, and reading countless scrolls in hope that one of them will contain the answer. Her interests are seen as nothing more than a strange quirk by her friends and clan mates; although she has been banned from the nursery after her gruesome discussions left almost all the hatchlings with nightmares. Her worst problem lies with fellow researchers, who constantly tell her that such a young hatchling should have no interest in such matters.