Common Pygmies are sweet in temperament and palate. They spend a fair amount of time foraging for and scavenging food but have a particular fondness for sweet tasting treats, such as honey. When pickings are slim, they can hunt songbirds and small mammals. Common Pygmies stay in large groups, migrating alongside their food supply. Although capable of the same basic vocal sounds of most other dragons, Common Pygmies prefer to communicate through body language. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that Common Pygmy hatchlings are rather affectionate.

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.

Pygmy dragons are the smallest category of dragons, being on the same scale as domesticated animals. They are often found around concentrated populations of dragons, relying on their larger brethren to ward away potential predators and leave scraps. As such, the majority of a pygmy’s diet is scavenged. Due to their tiny size, pygmies do not breed with larger varieties of dragons.

Ziru is Xywin's assistant, helping him retrieve objects from the crowded shelves that fill his shop (since he hoards human-made things, the villagers have given him a shop to keep them in).  She also tries to help Xywin maintain some measure of organization, though with little success—just when she gets one set of shelves organized, Xywin gets a new shipment of "treasures."  Still, despite Ziru's difficult job, she would rather work for Xywin than for Kestrel or Isalba—she's hopeless at catching mice and doesn't have the stamina to tear around Dragontown all day delivering messages.