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.

Lilystranger helps to keep the watch around the edges of the marshes where the Weyr of Soft Flowers lies hidden from the control of the violent Weyr of Flame. She knows all too well what fate would await her Weyr and herself if the Tyrant Flameflow's 'peacekeepers' found evidence of their hidden settlement, and so she keeps her watch nearly to the point of obsession. Her quiet, steadfast dedication to the safety of the Weyr earns her the respect of her Weyrmates, though her serious silence cannot quite earn their love. That doesn't bother her. It's her duty to protect them, and that's what matters.

One lonely, sleepless night when she was on patrol, Lilystranger spotted a pale green egg floating in a puddle, abandoned in the shallow marshes. With no sign of a sire, Lilystranger half thought it a trap to lure her away.

But its shell was so cold. She bundled it to her, warmed it.

Her sweet hatchling, Lilywatch, is hers in all but blood, and shows her a love she is proud to earn each day.