Dragons are creatures with nearly unlimited life spans. They can survive for long periods of time, and no one has found a dragon that has died of old age. Adolescence 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. Once they hit adolescence, hatchlings change quickly, maturing to their full forms in only 2 years.

Dragons don't communicate with each other verbally, but they will growl to scare off predators and frighten prey. Young dragons will emit an extremely high-pitched squeal when they are frightened. To communicate, they use telepathy with each other and to speak to other creatures.

When water dragons mature, they lose their legs and the ability to survive on land, entering the water permanently. They are adept swimmers and eat whatever fish are in the lake they live in. They tend to inhabit the same lake for their entire lives, although a few live in the ocean and swim all over the world.

Metemne has had a rather harrowing childhood. As a hatchling, he lived in a castle moat, rather like a watchdog. But Metemne liked his humans and wasn't very good at acting scary. So when he got too big to keep in the moat (and too friendly), he was moved to the sea nearby, in the hopes that he would be free to seek out his own adventures and stop pestering all the guests.  But he was loath to leave his "family" and stayed in the bay, attracting quite a bit of attention. Unfortunately, despite his friendly demeanor, he was angering the local fisherman population by scaring off (and eating) the fish.  As an apology, he now offers something of a tugboat "service" on calm days, and he'll guide lost ships back home when the sea is treacherous for free. All he asks in return for the "service" is a 50-50 split of the boat's catch.

...Naturally, nobody ever takes him up on his offer. Instead, Metemne has become something of a tourist attraction, as he lets humans ride him around the bay.