Skywing Dragons spend most of their lives flying in the air. They hunt from the air, diving at prey from above, and land only to rest. They are some of the fastest fliers, capable of extremely high speeds. The webbing at the end of the tail acts as a rudder, allowing them to easily change direction during flight.

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.

Chenaniah is an exuberant skywing who spends much of his time in the air. In a fluke of paternal dragon nature, Chenaniah has bonded with an albatross, one of the few other creatures that spends an inordinate fraction of its life flying. This albatross, though not as intelligent as the dragon himself, understands the benefits of a companion and enjoys the company on the long, lonely flights (which can extend over months without touching land) between various fisheries. Every five years in mating season, the albatross leaves Chenaniah, who travels to his own home cave to visit the human and dragons that raised him. Chenaniah is unsure what he will do when his friend dies (as albatrosses only live a few decades), but perhaps he will attach himself to one of the albatross's descendants.

Chenaniah survives almost exclusively on fish, which he hunts in a skimmer-like fashion; swooping low over the water and opening his mouth to sieve up mackerel and other surface-dwelling fish.