Coastal Waverunners spend most of their time skimming the waves along the coast, snatching up their prey from the shallow waters. They have developed markings along the leading edges of their body that help disguise them as breaking waves. When they are not hunting, they enjoy playing among sand-dunes and shallow tide-pools. These dragons live in small but noisy rookeries. Some stories say Waverunners can fly for days on end without landing.

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.

Jarfrae prefers solitude over the company of her own species. Unlike other members of her kind, she spends her days in brooding and silence, skimming over the waves forlornly for days on end. She was raised by a widowed fisherman on the coast of the Eastern Sea. He was basically her father, as she had become separated from her flock due to a hurricane at her birth. One day, after a week-long fishing expedition, she returned to find her "father" dead. He had suffered from a heart-attack on  the steps of his small hut during her absence. After Jarfrae realized that her only friend would never wake, she flew away over the sea, wandering aimlessly. She was found by a vessel headed for the Dragon Compound across the sea, and was plucked from the ocean after her wings gave out from ceaseless use. She was brought to the island, and has flown over the waves along the border ever since.