only twice in eliazand history had there been a peaceful , uncontested transfer of leadership from father to child , but dirak accepted the transfer of leadership from alessia to himself with much less surprise and far more stoicism than the explorers might have expected , had they not known that dirak truly considered his peoples interests above his own ; after the transfer festivities announcing his leadership so close on the heels of alessias ascendancy , dirak continued to regard his former leader with the respect accorded leaders of his people .