Larkspur Haven was not sothing he could touch right now. Not with only two bonded shipgirls in this early stage, and definitely not while he was still tied to Polaris, the academy, and the growing number of things that demanded his attention nearby.
But that did not make the clue less important.
It just ant it had to wait, for a while, until he is stronger than he is now.
Aurelian lowered the display and stayed quiet for a bit as he put the whole thing in order inside his head.
If he rushed there now, he would be gambling with too little strength and too little support.
If he waited too long, soone else might stumble onto it, or the situation on Larkspur Haven might develop in a way that made it harder to use.
So the answer was obvious.
He had to prepare without looking like he was preparing.
"I’m not going there yet," he said at last.
"If I go, I go with enough force to survive and conquer," he thought.
That was the part he refused to compromise on.
He had no desire to die for ambition before ambition had even beco real.
The next issue was what to do with the information.
Reporting it directly to the family right now did not feel right. Not because he did not trust them, but because once sothing this big is told, his parents will not be able to help him much, as he will lose control over the situation.
It would beco a family matter, a faction matter, maybe even an Alliance matter depending on who got involved, and Aurelian was still too early in his own growth to want that kind of weight dropped on top of him.
But his parents were the only exception.
If anyone had the right to hear about a route like this before the rest of the family, it was them. The problem was that contacting them was harder than wanting to.
They were still deep in frontier operations, working far beyond the comfortable signal net, and their communication windows were inconsistent at best.
The only reason they ca on that day was that it was the day I would awaken; after that, they had to leave.
That ant this would have to wait, too.
For now.
Aurelian let out a quiet breath and closed the route panel.
"Looks like this is becoming a long-term plan," he said.
He stood up with a sigh as he felt as if he had run a marathon even though he had not moved an inch.
Larkspur Haven, the Pale Wound Corridor, the future territory idea, all of it was real now, but none of it needed to consu the entire day.
He still had two shipgirls on board who were adjusting to each other, and he still had three girls at the academy who needed to stay in the loop if he expected them to be part of what ca next.
So he sent a few quiet ssages first.
One went to his family’s internal line, asking that any next-contact window with his parents be flagged to him imdiately, no matter how inconvenient the ti.
The second went to the triplets, simple and controlled.
He told them there might be an operation in the coming weeks, not sothing imdiate, but sothing that could matter enough that they should keep training, keep leveling, and avoid drifting too far from secure routes or taking unnecessary risks before he had the full picture.
He did not explain Larkspur Haven in that ssage.
At least not yet, as he does not have a concrete plan, so saying too much will harm them more than help them.
After that, he decided to spend so ti with the ship girls to get to know them better, which proved harder than he had expected.
Astra, true to her nature, did not need much adjustnt. She adapted to his pace, his preferences, and even the awkwardness of bringing a second shipgirl into the fold with a calm that only deepened his trust in her judgnt.
And Rhoswen is also adjusting smoothly to everything, which is why he is thinking of ways to interact more, as this is part of what a commander has to do.
This is not only because he and the ship girls need to be in sync to increase their effectiveness, but also because they will beco much closer in the future as their bond deepens.
But that is for the future; right now, he wanted to take these two ladies on a shopping trip to Polaris Station, as they needed to get clothes of their own choice, instead of having them wear whatever they had when they were born, which is not much in the first place.
Still, it was a nice trip; they enjoyed themselves while shopping for new clothes, getting to know each other better, and even buying food from various stands.
And it was fun seeing Astra try different foods for the first ti, especially if they were spicy, which she reacted to by blinking in confusion at the unusual sensation as her face seed to turn red, not out of embarrassnt, but because the spice had heated her cheeks.
Rhoswen, on the other hand, was very fond of sweets, as her face lit up every ti she saw sothing that looked good, which made Aurelian smile at her eagerness.
The girls had their own styles, but they all looked good in different ways.
Astra always looks classy with an understated elegance, and she dresses that way, too; the way her body moves is smooth and confident, but also a bit teasing when she wants to be.
Rhoswen has a more carefree style, with her hair in a loose braid that hangs over one shoulder, and her outfits are always bright and colorful; her movents are bouncy and energetic, but she can be surprisingly gentle when the mood calls for it.
And they both look good together, even if they seem very different at first glance.
Aurelian had a happy smile as he let them enjoy.
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