Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. It sleeps a lot, but when it’s awake, it’s quite a handful.

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.

Fluffy Gary is ill. His hacking coughs drown any silence that once was, penetrating the night in quick, fierce blows. No one has figured out what ails him, but luckily it seems to not be contagious. Many a night has Fluffy Gary come close to death. He rolls about in his troubled sleep, shaking with every fresh wave of sweat and fever. His fur, grown thin and short through disease, no longer gives him the warmth he needs, and Fluffy Gary now relies entirely on his fellow Pillow dragons to survive.