Magnus pauses. He points his torch at the figure in the dark. He stares at what his light reveals.
It's a small creature; toddling on four legs, and has downy, light lavender fur. From head to tail are some type of plates, colored a gentle magenta. Big, baby blue eyes, lined with something a white-yellow, blink up at him with curiosity.
Is this what those hunters were after? It didn't look like much. Then again, it's only just hatched, so there's no telling what it will grow into.
Should he take it with him? Leaving it to be taken by that band of brutes didn't sound appealing. There's no telling what they plan to do with it.
But—he's has his own problems. Taking in a hatchling and having those thugs after him? That sounds even less appealing.
Pap-pap-pap-pap. He freezes as the hatchling approaches him. It looks up at him, pawing at his leg with a chirp.
He sighs. You wouldn't approach me so readily if you know what I've done.

Shele lore? Maybe. Still working on their story. I wanted to doodle them as a hatchling and this is what came of it.
Some facts:
-Shele's plates aren't tough like they are in their reference. It's more like elastic cartilage, like what human ears are made of. It can't shield them from sharp things, but Shele will still curl up like an armadillo when overwhelmed.
-Here, they don't have sharps claws or long antennae yet. They're also a lot more fuzzy, since they've just hatched. Kinda like a baby bird with their downy feathers.
-You can't really see because of the lighting/shading, but their colors are lighter. It is described in the bit of writing above, but again, hard to tell.