Deep Sea Dragons, as their name suggests, spend most of their time in the darkest depths of the sea. They have a bioluminescent dorsal spine that serves to attract prey and communicate with their own kind. As with many deep sea animals, they generally eat whatever they can manage to bait. They rarely leave the ocean floor, surfacing only during breeding season. When they do choose to travel to the shallower depths, they avoid bright lights and will only come up far away from shore.

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.

Kaikila is one of the few of her kind who chooses to live on the edge. She sometimes strays close to the shallows where the Deep Sea dragons' rivals live; the Shallow Water dragons. Her clan isn't very social and doesn't talk to many outside of the group, which is why it was a family disgrace when Kaikila chose to mate Arnaav, a charming male Water dragon who loves adventure as much as Kaikila does.

Her family disapproved of Arnaav because, one, he isn't a Deep Sea dragon. And two, he didn't ask for her family's approval and mated her without their consent.