"Of course.  And well done, Alicia, with the hobbit!"

<Thank you,> she returns to Halbarad, <it was really just - the least I could do, given the circumstances.  Elrond deserves just as much credit for keeping him alive this long with a piece of evil knife inches from his heart.>

With that out of the way, it's time for her to spend a few minutes laying spellwork on the blade and on her target, as well as hooking it up to her datapad.  This mostly involves the occasional purple glow, in terms of visual effects.

<Oh - and since you're here,> she directs to Gandalf, <I was wondering if you knew, or would be able to deduce, anything about how - well, if I want to execute a long-distance teleport, I need to know if I need to account for Flat Arda.  But that after our tests, I'd get horribly distracted otherwise.>

...Not that she's not still thinking about that problem now, but it's at least at a tolerably low level of thoughts like "spatial deformation from the Changing vis-a-vis accounting for intersection safety interlocks?" and "oh fucking hell what's the basis - and what about material compression!" as she takes a few warmup swings and checks that her spells are recording fine.

Lindir carefully verifies that her spells are merely recording spells, intently watches her cast them, and then stands back.  As he watches her practice swings, he's reminded of why he never volunteered to teach children.

Yeah, she's not exactly proud of her skills here either; they'll just have to do.  At least she's got half-decent edge alignment, even if she's a bit prone to overbalancing - she's used to smaller blades, generally.

...Right.  Time to stab.

She just barely hits the edge of the ring!  It spins and thwacks her forearm.

"Fair!" Halbarad calls.

(Fair for a not-quite-novice, that is.)

She winces, though at least her gloves mean that the impact is likely not sharp enough to bruise.

Only a few dozen more to go, she thinks, and then the next set.  50 swings is surely a decent sample size...

She bangs the quoit (and it bangs her) again several more times before Halbarad calls "Enough!  If you're practicing, practice with the right form!"

<Look, my experience is mostly with holdout knives and shortswords,> she beams back, getting the gist of what he said from the tone - <I'm trying my best to adjust but this is really much more blade than I'm used to!>

"Leave the lesson till after the experiment," Lindir says smoothly, echoing in osanwe.  "But that's enough with that sword - take this one instead."

He offers her the magic sword.  It's got a more ornate hilt (with a gilded swan), but about the same weight and balance.

Also, once Alicia swings it, she might notice it nudging her hands and arms slightly as she swings, toward better form and a squarer hit.

<...Yeah, that's definitely active and helping,> she says after the first stab.  <I'm kind of curious how much, and it's probably going to help me with my form in general, so I'm going to keep going, if that's alright.>

"Better!"  It's still not much better; her form's still off - maybe beyond what the magic could correct at once.  But it's better.

"And an intriguing sword, Lindir!"

"Ah, thank you."

<And certainly.>

<My thanks.  ...This is - I figure you did not intend this blade to be a training tool, but just look at how it shortens the loop -> An inchoate image of the process of a teacher correcting a student's form - having to notice the flaw and communicate how to correct it and deal with the imprecision of over- and undercorrections brought on by language - <It's not a proper replacement for instruction, because you have to learn the forms to begin with, and that is something that needs a teacher, but for getting the muscle memory right?  This effect really excels.  I am impressed by it, for while I imagine that it's not theoretically impossible to make in the framework I'm used to, I'm not sure I've ever heard of its like.  You'd likely have to start from Life, and that's hard to wrangle into an enchanting mindset...  Spirit's marginally better at enchanting, but then you have to hope you've taught it well.  ...Most of the time people just make weapons that hit harder, not better - or add a bound spell.>

Lindir is flattered.

<Why, my thanks to you as well!  That is the best praise I have heard in long years!  And - I had indeed not considered it that way, but I suppose it would - >

He holds out his hand toward Halbarad.  "Go ahead, show her the forms if you want.  The blade doesn't take any care beyond the usual."

<Is the blade friendly?> Gandalf interjects.

<To its wielder?  I am no Eol; it will not betray you.  If your enemy pushes on your hand, it will try to deflect away from your own body.  But its power is limited - I am also no Curufin or Celebrimbor.>

Well, isn't that an.  Interesting.  question to be asking.

<...I doubt as to whether much more power would be of help here anyway, with the scope as focused as it is - perhaps you could have extended its guidance to footwork, with a bit more power available, but there's only so much you can get out of a body to begin with, anyway.  Unless you start enhancing that, but that really doesn't seem like it fits...>

<It is said the swords of Eol could speak and give advice - and stir you up to hapless action.  And, they would sometimes slip at ill-timed moments.>

<...It's honestly surprising how much I'm not surprised by that being a thing that happened,> and  <...I think I'm going to blame Sauron for that too, on general principle, because it definitely seems like something he'd take glee in,> overlap in her reply, being of equal primacy in import and simultaneous in realization.  <But this sword isn't - computationally, thaumaturgically complex enough to start manipulating people, regardless, I don't think?  Like, it only has room to know how to sword good.  Which...  Frankly, intelligent items are spooky.  That's almost like having a kid for their future utility, independent of concern for their own wellbeing.  Unless - well, some are instead fragments or echoes of their creators, which is at least a different sort of quandary.>

<You are quite correct, it does contain something of its creator.  An echo, as you say.  The grandest jewels that Feanor made contain an echo of him; the grand hall that Celebrimbor constructed contains an echo of him; the Ring that Sauron made contains an echo of him.>

<...I thought the Silmarils contained an echo of the Light of the Trees, or something similar, not of Feanor himself - like that's what made throwing one up there as a replacement sun even work, right?  Though I guess that could explain some things if they did...>  Her train of thought silently spirals off from "Didn't one end up in Mordor" to "atemporal Morgoth fuckery????  Unlikely."

<And I don't mean - in the sense that all creations show the influence of their makers, though it's not as though the edges couldn't get blurry when you're throwing enough high magic around...>

Gandalf raises his bushy eyebrows.  <They contained some of the Light itself, and also an echo of Feanor.  And - are you talking about the Star of Earendil, or the idea to destroying the Silmarils to restore the Trees?  For Feanor said that destroying them would kill him, and he spoke truth.>