Shimmer-scale Dragons are a very beautiful breed with small—but highly reflective—scales that shimmer and shine as the dragon moves through water. They don’t have fins or webbed feet, but their long, eel-like bodies allow them to swim quite fast. They were once rumored to carry large pearls in their claws—causing many to seek them out in search of this fabulous treasure. In reality, the “pearl” is of greater value to the dragon, for the fabled treasure is actually an egg carried by a migrating female.

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.

She Makes the Wind Shimmer, or simply Shimmer, is a lovely, kind dragon. Her mate, however, a Plated-Colossal Dragon, is rightfully named Ole' Grumps. There is no story of a love at first sight that changed Grump's heart into a brilliant gold equivalent to Shimmer's lovely scales. No, it was much, much more simple than that.

You see, Grumps is grumpy, and showing affection really isn't his thing. Instead of being shy and nervous and romantically courting the female, he looked at her once and waded off into the ocean, to her surprise.

Days later, he arrived with a massive pearl in his jaws and dropped it at her feet, proposing to her right there. Before she could answer, which she hesitated to in shock and horror, a silver Shimmer-scale dragon flew in, clearly angered. The giant pearl was this poor dear's egg, and Grumps was quickly brought to a flustered mess of apologies and embarrassment, to Shimmer's amusement.

While most would not call this romantic, she has adored him ever since.