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.

Balnay is just about the only dragon to live outside the mountains surrounding Highrock Weyr, along with her mate Usgyan and the exiles Suril and Calsuray.  She's smart enough to stay out of Olinbar's way—he'd either kill her or force her to leave her pond and live in Highrock, and she's heard enough from Suril to know what living conditions in the weyr are like.  Balnay is very curious about people, and sometimes leaves her pond to spy on Calsuray's visitors.