Frozen Female Hatchling
Name: unnamed
Species: Anta Tapirucorn
Birthday: Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Owner: zylle
Element: Life
Few would expect the creature that comes out of such a fine egg to be a round piglike creature with a horn, little feathered wings, and what appears to be a short trunk. Young tapirucorns are quite small compared to adults, only about the size of a watermelon when they first hatch. They grow quickly, however, and after a few days are running around well past their parents, eagerly exploring new plants and creatures. Mother tapirucorns must watch them carefully to keep them safe, and few creatures would be wise to even appear threatening in the presence of a mother and her calf. Young tapirucorns have a different coat than their mothers for their first week of life -- they look brown and speckled, to help them blend in with the shadows of the Raza jungle where they live. Calves lose this coat once their horn starts to come in, and though they cannot yet use magic, their horn is usually a suitable defense by that point. Though not yet as beautiful as their parents, youngsters who have lost their baby coat still have impressive patterns wrought about it, and their skin gleams like a precious metal.
Odd as it may seem, these pudgy beasts are actually distant relatives of unicorns and horses. Their wings are largely for display, as they are too small to give them flight. Their horns, however, are very much functional, and though generally docile, mother tapirucorns will readily use it to charge at anything that might threaten their babies. The horns have restorative properties, and anything they touch will be reversed to an earlier state. Broken dishes can be repaired, small cuts can be healed, and fabric tears can be mended flawlessly. Their ability takes considerable effort to reverse things that happened long ago or that have considerable altered a person or object, but living tapirucorns can call upon this power whenever they like. This power remains in a tapirucorn's horn for a limited time if it is removed from the animal, and the crushed horn is highly sought in some circles as a panacea. Tapirucorn's are sometimes poached for their horns, so the horns are banned as tradable goods in most cities. Although rare, their tendency to dwell deep within dark forests has helped keep them safe for the most part, and lucky magi might even be able to find a tapirucorn as a companion.
Sprite art: Borealum (hatchling) | Description: PKGriffin