"This is fate!" Old Bud said with relief. "No, a magical connection!"
He sounded like a Gringotts goblin who had just struck a profitable deal, as though he had lost his arm five years ago entirely so he could witness this moment today.
Targaryen stared at the ring and said in realization, "So that's it."
She had participated in the entire production process of versions one through five of the Rescue Ring Prototype and knew this product well enough-the reason Katherine always appeared at rescue sites had been found.
She took out a quill and rapidly jotted down a note in her little notebook: "Important precaution: after prolonged contact with a dragon's gums, version three of the Rescue Ring Prototype will leak magic due to external factors-most likely the corrosive properties of dragon saliva.
"Once the ring's magic resonates with the dragon's gums, it causes the gums to become a sort of differently shaped rescue slate, allowing the dragon in question to quickly detect rescue signals from version three of the Rescue Ring Prototype and head to the exact coordinates to influence the rescue."
Targaryen suddenly felt it was a pity. If they had discovered this five years ago, the reserve could have used the opportunity to ask the Ministry of Magic for extra funding.
By now, the Rescue Ring Prototype had undergone numerous iterations. The rings the reserve's researchers carried had all been replaced with general-purpose models proven through repeated testing to withstand various environments. Once a ring was confirmed lost, it could be destroyed remotely.
It looked as though the plan to introduce a few Graphorns to the reserve would have to be postponed again. She really wanted to take a deep sniff of dragon scales every morning, then bury her face in a Graphorn's fur and rub