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.

In Ciquin's home, humans often steal eggs and hatchlings from mother dragons to sell or eat. Cinquin herself was taken by poachers as a hatchling. She was slated to be the frozen pet of a rich noble and was locked in a tiny cage so she couldn't escape. In the cage was another hatchling, a red, terrified but doing his best to calm baby Cinquin. They were trapped in the cage for months, making the long journey to the Grand Estate. Sharing hunks of meat and body heat in the tiny cage, Cinquin and the red soon became the best of friends. When the poachers opened the cage to freeze them, the little red, brave beyond his years, leapt at the poachers. The distraction allowed Cinquin to run away. She was soon lost in the wild but was eventually found and raised by a tender pink dragon to maturity. Far away from her home swamp, Cinquin is a quiet and morose dragon that is obsessed with finding her long-lost friend. She only wishes to see him again, but she does not even know if he is alive.