And Knight Conrad just continued his lesson, giving them form suggestions and explaining the best ways they could each use their size or skills to handle a full attack head on. "If you can avoid it, do so," the advice wasn't at Hida alone, but she took it to heart, "redirect, try to use your opponent's actions to your benefit, and make their efforts help you." Bruno got a pat on the shoulder when the Knight all but bounced off his defensive stance, "you ma be an ambulatory wall, but the rest of us can't claim your implacableness."
"He's a Gault, he's not even close to fully grown yet," Anto teased loudly. 
Where Briggs were blond, mostly, the Gault were large' a familial trait that helped identify the heritage without need of a family colour. It wasn't an absolute rule, Hida's own Pinky designation notwithstanding, but it was a general rule of thumb. And she wondered what the next generation of Briggs would look like, given her siblings were romancing brunettes. 
"New rule, if you ever need to withstand a siege, just hide behind him," Knight Conrad teased, "but all joking aside, even with your size it might be the better strategy to redirect the attack. Always conserve your energy, you don't know how long a fight will last after you take the first opponent down. Your jobs aren't to die heroically; I don't want you to die at all. As Knights, be it Royal Guard or City Guard, your duty is to protect. You have to be alive to do that duty."
"So us learning to take on riots and hand to hand fighting isn't just to toughen us up?" Antonia asked pragmatically.
"It'll help toughen you up, but its also so you can start learning to think of your actions instead of just doing them. Even in a riot, your goal is to subdue, not kill and injure. These are still citizens of our Kingdom, and our Queen is not a tyrant." It felt like approval to have their Knight Instructor speak to them like fellow Knights already, instead of just cadets.
Hida bent her will and focus to the training, each flicker in the shadows a distraction she couldn't focus on just yet. Whatever future her magic wanted to show her wasn't strong enough the reveal itself, so she had to wait until it was. But this also build the anticipation, she was curious what her magic was trying to present, and why it seemed to be struggling. 
It was closer to September than July, and Hida was glad the heat of summer was starting to relent; she really became Pinky in the sun, and it wasn't fun to be burnt while training. And her first day back felt good, just reinforcing for Hida that this was what she should be doing. Her cohort, her friends really, had all missed her and welcomed her back with happy enthusiasm. There was still another two months left before all the families left the Capital for winter, the Marriage Season over, but many of the southern families left earlier to avoid the snow of November, so Hida was looking forwards to these last eight weeks training with her friends. 
Her body ached with the efforts she'd endured, and Hida felt satisfied with her healing scar as she already knew what it'd look like in the future. She settled into the bath at home, and intended to soak the soreness out; an idea apparently shared by Edwina because Hida saw her older sister stride in and quickly disrobe, likely unaware that Hida was already silently in the steam filled room. 
"Those are finger bruises," Hida couldn't help but say out loud, making Winnie jump and blush red, but Hida was too focused on the hand grip marks on her sister's thighs. They were at the yellow stage, so Hida knew they were several days old, and Winnie's wide eyes but shocked silent reaction told Hida they weren't earned from a grapple, but likely more adult pursuits. "So I guess it's slightly less unrequited now?" Hida didn't assume Winnie would be intimate with just anyone; it had to be her Lord Daro. 
"I'm not talking about it," Winnie declared, voice too controlled for Hida to tell if she was just wanting discretion, or if she was upset. 
"Then don't let Blair see those bruises, she'll want all the details," Hida warned, actively wanting to remain ignorant herself. She knew about intimacies, in theory, but it all seemed so gross to her still.