Oh, so the thestral would eat the professor's meat, but not Ellie's? That was rude. And Ellie thought that she might be getting closer to the poor guy. Y'know, besides the peeing and the frantic wing-flapping.

And Williamson had raw meat, so that was probably more appetizing than beef jerky.

"Professor, do you think he wants this?" Ellie asked, waving the jerky around.

Waaaaaait. Thestralfeedingprofessorsaywhaaaat? "Dragon meat? Like... Legit dragon meat? Like, dead dragon in that bucket?" Ellie didn't care that she sounded unintelligent; there was a dead dragon in her presence. Ellie liked dragons. Alive. From a distance. A very big distance. When they weren't eating people.