(First Elder's POV, Planet Tithia)
The First Elder's reaction mirrored that of the Twelfth when he found out that their recovery team had proven so utterly incompetent.
"This failure severely damages our chances of making Leo Skyshard the next Dragon. If Aegon Veyr manages to reach the Transcendent Tier in the coming weeks, just before the annual summit on Planet FrostBurn, then the Fourth Elder will push with everything he has to name him Dragon on the spot…" the First Elder mused, slowly stroking his aged gray beard.
"To be fair to Leo, this wasn't his fault. Any reasonable Elder would see that.
But on the other hand… a deal is a deal. I can't go back on my word unless I have a justifiable reason, one the other Elders will accept," he reasoned, as he began to pace agitatedly around his office.
For a while, he tried to think of a way out of this mess, but nothing promising came to mind just yet.
