Aww... It’s a cute baby dragon. But... where are its legs?

And look! It has gotten bigger and is now able to use magic. 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 old enough, Cordwood ran away to join a circus. He knew of a Fiery-dragon-(something) Circus in the region, and though he didn't really know what a circus really was, he decided it must be more exciting than jungle life as he knew it. He found a circus on his travels, and it didn't take long for him to regret joining. There were too many dragons and other colorful creatures, someone tried to put him in an act where he's a snake getting captured and tamed, the guy with the red nose and big feet assaulted him with round tins of soft food, and there were hoops on fire, which was just super unsafe! Cordwood hatched an escape plan and fled the circus, and he safely arrived home. His mother was unhappy that he was 10 minutes late for potions lessons but otherwise didn't notice what an adventure her son had, since he had only been gone a few hours.