Water Walkers are small dragons that are frequently found around bogs and ponds. While they are flightless, they retain the flight sacs and hollow bones of their airborne cousins. These traits, coupled with their extraordinarily long, webbed toes, allow them to stand on top of calm waters, using their small sails to propel them wherever they please. They spend the majority of their lives on the water, retreating to the tops of lily pads when the waters become too rough to float atop.

Dragons are highly-intelligent reptilian creatures that—from a human perspective, at least—appear to live forever. Many different varieties of dragon exist, each with their own unique qualities, habitats, and behavior. Adolescence in dragons is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling’s wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. In Galsreim, dragons and humans coexist peacefully.

Why so Striderous was given a mixed blessing in being saved by Shrel. The soft rotting log that housed him was gentle on his delicate toes, but also confined him to an area without water for his early development. His closest companion is On Buoyant Wings, who suffered most in those chaotic early days but took it all in stride. These two have always been together, and he is very aware of the handicaps placed onto her life by circumstance. He is colder to Shrel than most because of this, not blaming the human so much as needing to express his unhappiness. When he is not playing with her in their games such as tug the waterwalker, he is fretting about all manner of things, imaginary or not, that impede on the quality of On Buoyant Wings life. It is suspected among the other adults that has been trying to have a more intimate relationship with the female, and is frustrated as any subtle hints he gives are thrown off by her obliviousness.