Heartstealing Dragons are an unusual breed, named for their mating rituals. These dragons use their long, slender bodies to sneak into both human and dragon holds to steal things over the year. Then, when the right season hits, they give away their entire hoard as gifts, leaving things in the homes of other dragons to attract them. When these gifts are found, however, the recipients can’t always tell who gave the gifts. This receiver often assumes the source of the gift was the original owner, causing them to form friendly bonds with other dragons in the area, spreading peace—and sometimes even sparking love. The only way to know if a gift is from a Heartstealing Dragon is to find one of their wafer-thin scales at the scene.

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.

Bedfellow has learned ten human languages, though she's only kept up with the changes in six of them over the past few hundred years. She lives a day's walk from a town where humans speak and write in her favorite: a mix of several dialects that soon formed the almost-cohesive language they now use. What makes it so great in Bedfelow's eyes is that there's no official way to spell many words. The humans follow the "sound it out" approach, even for their own names, and she loves it. Whenever she writes, she follows that style and spells however she wants. Bedfellowe's never been good at sneaking around and sheds like a cat in the summer, so people always know when she's around. It's hard to be mysterious when she so often sits by the town hall reading new board messages, having seemingly forgotten she's meant to stay unseen. The townsfolk often recover their belongings while Bedfello's distracted and might even meet a new significant other at the town hall.