Aria dragons are a brightly-colored and sprightly breed, perhaps most adored for their lyric calls. Their song-like melodies fill the areas they inhabit; their coos resemble those of birds, only more elegant and refined. They have fairly strong magical capabilities, but tend to reserve these strengths for last-minute defense, choosing to live their lives in simple peace. Arias, sticking to the tropics, typically live quite far from human settlements, giving rise to the previously held belief that they had gone extinct.

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.

When she has nothing else to do, Recitative likes to climb trees and stare at some faraway object while perched statue-still. Her favorite tree is a giant walking palm a few paces from the well-worn forest path; she sits in the center where the leaves spread out. The other dragons think Recitative's looking into the distance is strange, but they know she's still paying attention since her ears swivel and nostrils flare all the time. Her singing sounds eerily like human speech, but she doesn't know any of their languages. Perhaps Recitative learned to "talk" like them by listening to travelers who use the path below. Many humans point and talk confusedly about her when they spot her seemingly not paying any mind to her surroundings.