The Seven Days

Trial of the wild

The Teethians are an isolated clan of ice dragons that live in the mountains of the Teeth. Many of their traditions and rituals go back thousands of years, changing very little over the milennia.
One of these traditions is the seven days, a trial every young male Teethian has to go through once they turn fourteen years old in order to be seen as a man. They must survive alone in the wilderness alone for seven days, using all of their hunting and survival skills. At the end of the seven days, they must return to the village with a trophy claimed from a great beast. Coveted trophies include the head of a mountain bear or the pelt of an ice cougar.
It is expected that each boy will remain in their human form throughout the trial, though there are no checks put in place to ensure this is actually the case. Often boys will shift into their dragon form at night, which has more protection from the cold, particularly when the temperature often drops far below freezing. This is generally seen as acceptable, though often remains unspoken. The point of remaining in human form for the majority of the trial is to prove that the boy can survive without the aid of his scales, teeth, and claws.