Haldir was back at his group a couple hours after having spoken with Namo. As sleep wasn't necessary, along with the fact that he couldn't even tell if it was day or night, the little counseling groups would continue on an endless cycle. So now he was with his second of four groups. Once he had gone through them all, he would then have roughly the same amount of time which it had taken to complete all four to do whatever he wished, and then the rotation would begin again.

Namo had ignored Sauron's complaining since his remark about Finrod, and had proceeded to tell Haldir exactly what would be happening. "You will need to aware your groups that you will now be absent, firstly. Then you can take care of any personal business you might have. But, please, make it quick. I don't want to be waiting around in these Halls forever." He contemplated this statement for a moment as they began to leave the prisons. "Hm, well that was ironic. Anyway, once that is done, come back here and I'll get Sauron out and you two can go through the whole re-embodiment process."

Haldir continued walking silently for a moment when a part of what Namo had said struck him. "Us two?" he asked.

"Yes."

"You mean, he gets a body too?"

"Of course not, he just goes through the whole process for no particular reason. I just felt like wasting time by sticking around and making him appear to get a body," Namo said, sarcasm thick in his voice.

"Burn," Haldir said under his breath.

"There is no way that he can figure out how to properly interact with people if he doesn't have a body. How many living people do you see communicating with the dead?"

Haldir ignored the logic in this and pressed on. "Is that safe though, I mean, couldn't he hurt people or something?"

"No, not really. He doesn't have much power left to him, that he could use physically at least. The only real power he has is what wisdom he had from being a maia, but it should not be a problem."

"But, when he has a body couldn't he...?"

"Do you think we plan on letting him have the form of some dark overlord or something?" Namo asked him. "Really, we've thought it all through. He will look like he did in the cell."

"Ueh..." Haldir cringed, not too pleased with the idea.

"Well, what do you expect? It was the last form he had before he was completely in Morgoth's service."

Haldir couldn't help but make a face at this. "You all let him go around like that? Wouldn't that be a rather bad, uh, appearance to allow one of you to have when trying to make a favorable impression on others?"

"He wasn't out enough to really affect anybody. In fact, nobody noticed that he was gone for a long while, as he usually kept to himself. He was one of those smithy people, did various crafts, like metal working or jewel cutting. Those ones don't care much for appearance. So nobody really cared that he looked that way. Except for the elves, in hindsight." He glanced at Haldir. "What is up with you guys and looks anyway?"

Haldir shrugged. "Must be something in our psyches."

"Sure..." Namo replied, obviously unconvinced.

After that they had gone separate ways, with Haldir off to see his second group and Namo to do whatever it was that was required of him.

The second group was probably his favorite, to be completely honest. Nobody in there had died terribly dramatic deaths. Of course that was in relation to, say, Maedhros or Eol. They were all normal elves who had lived uneventful lives and had somehow died. That didn't, however, give them the credit of dying in noble or honorable ways.

In fact, they all made Haldir's little self sacrificing thing look really good. Sometimes he found it surprising that they had been able to live as long as they had. He never said that of course; it wouldn't be nice. All the same, it did not stop him from thinking it.

There was no hope that things meant to be secret would stay as such. By the time he met with them, the group knew that Haldir had met with the Lord of the Halls for some reason, and they were all curious to know about it. This was more than Haldir could have said about his first group; had they known about the meeting, Feanor would have more than likely gone off on some egotistic speech. He was always full of those.

As this group very rarely took part in the things that were normally considered counseling, it did not surprise Haldir that they wanted to know the story. Before he had returned to the groups, however, Namo had told him that he could not share what he was going to do. It was meant to be secret and that was just the way it would have to be.

There was one aspect that he did have to share with them though. "After this group,
somebody will be taking my spot," he said.

"What?" one of the elves, a Merenwen asked, tipping her head to the side.

"I will no longer be here."

"Where are you going?" Golrandir inquired.

"...Other... places," Haldir haltingly answered.

"Are you being released?" a few asked in hushed unison.

"Not yet." Partly true, at least.

"Too bad," Golrandir said.

Haldir merely nodded.

There was a pause, and Haldir then decided to get the group going. "So, anything interesting to share today? As always, I recommend that you don't give everything up; you need to keep something to last you the next couple millennia."

The second group went well, and the last two were even easier. Those two actually cared about milking the counseling time for what it was worth, and so did not care particularly that Haldir would be leaving. All they wanted was somebody who would listen to their stories.

Haldir then had a while for himself, which he spent going around to see the few people whom he had spoken with on a regular basis during his time there. He informed them that he would not be around anymore, but that they would probably see each other at some time.

After that, he went back to the door that led to the cells. Namo was there waiting for him to turn up, along with two others. Haldir assumed that they must have been maiar or something of the sort since they, unlike the elven spirits, had bodies, but he could not see them clearly as they were hooded.

As soon as Namo saw him, he began to open the door. By the time Haldir had reached him, Namo was ready to lead him down again.

Namo did not waste any time. "You are still willing to do this?"

"I... guess," Haldir replied, looking out of the corner of his eye at the silent figures who were following them.

"You won't be all alone. There will always be somebody around that can help you if you need it, so don't think that we are just tossing you out into the wilderness with him or anything."

"That's good," he said, a flash of what could happen if he had been alone going through his mind.

"All right, here we go."

They had finally come to the cell that Sauron was in. Namo reached out a hand, grasped a bar, and effortlessly pulled the door open. Haldir couldn't help but cringe at the idea that the doors to the cells simply had to be pushed open.

It seemed that Sauron was thinking the same thing, too. "Please say that it wasn't seriously that easy to open," he said, although where he was could not be seen.

"No, it wasn't that easy, not that it should matter to you anyways," Namo replied as the two people went into the cell.

Haldir waited for a minute. There was some muffled cursing that issued from the cell, but when Haldir looked questioningly at Namo, he did not seem to notice; his attention appeared to be ardently placed upon the ceiling.

Finally, the hooded men appeared again holding Sauron between them, who did not seem at all pleased. Haldir wondered for a moment how they could hold Sauron when there wasn't any real substance to him, but he decided that the present was not the time to ask.

They left the prisons then, Namo first, closely followed by Haldir, and then Sauron and the men. The procession was silent, and although there were a couple of things that Haldir wanted to say, he refrained.

When they came to the end of the hall and the door was opened again, Haldir suddenly felt very self conscious. There were many elves in that main hall at the moment, and they all stopped what they were doing and stared at the group. Namo went on as though he didn't notice, which might have been true as, with time, he had probably gotten used to it. Haldir tried to ignore the stares as well, but with little success. In the end he was brought to simply looking down at the ground in front of his feet.

Haldir soon realized, however, that the elves quickly lost interest in him, and even with Namo, as they saw Sauron. Most of them seemed unable to figure out who he was, which suited Haldir fine. All the same, there were some older elves in the groups who almost seemed as though they recognized him. If they did, they made no sign.

Haldir almost thought that he was going to be able to get out of the main hall without mishap. For a glorious moment, it seemed that they might get through without anybody right-out saying that it was Sauron. That being the case, nobody present who knew Haldir would even be able to consider what sort of a mess he was getting into.

He had just let out a breath, finally beginning to relax, when Feanor entered the hall. As soon as he saw him, he knew there would be trouble. "Of course," Haldir sighed under his breath as he prepared for what was going to come.

Feanor stopped dead in his tracks, staring at Sauron with an utterly shocked expression on. Namo seemed to realize the danger and began to walk over to Feanor to push him back into the hall he had just been in, but it was already too late.

Feanor's shocked face very quickly turned venomous, hard and cold as stone. Haldir had never seen him that way in the likely thousands of times he had seen Feanor. The blubbering, complaining Feanor Haldir had known had erased any memory of the tales he had been told as a child, the ones in which Feanor had been strong-willed and stoic. Now he was getting to see that side of him, however, and he wasn't so sure that it was much better.

A fiery gleam seemed to leap in his eyes, and for once Haldir understood how he had earned the "spirit of fire" name. Feanor steamed silently for a moment, but Haldir deemed that it was nowhere near long enough. "What are you doing here?" he asked coldly.

At his words, Sauron seemed to notice that Feanor was there for the first time. "Ah, Feanor!" he began, his voice hinting at an equal amount of enmity. "What have you been up to these last, oh, 25,000 years, locked away here while I have been out free?"

Feanor's rage was easy to comprehend, yet he did a good job of concealing it. "The unusual things you do when you are without a body. I am sure that you would know all about those things though, as you have been without a body yourself, what, six times now? Your ability to lose bodies in completely idiotic and degrading ways is quiet amazing," he answered snidely.

Whispering rose around them as everybody began to realize that it was really Sauron. A couple began to yell and worked their way over to Feanor, standing behind him like a small army. Haldir wanted to slide off to the side, but thought that it might have brought more attention to himself than if he stayed.

Sauron was less able to hold down his fury, and he seemed to almost shake; evidently Feanor had hit a touchy spot. At the same time, he was able to frighten off all of the elves who had been standing behind Feanor. Haldir did not want to know how. "To start with, I believe it to be seven, counting recent events, and I must relinquish what awe I might receive for losing bodies to your talent for losing everything that is important to you in equally daft manners." He tossed his head back slightly, as though daring Feanor to make a move.

Apparently that was the last straw, and Feanor screamed and ran towards Sauron, trying to find some way to harm him although that seemed very unlikely. For a moment, Haldir watched in interest to see what would happen, but one of the men who had been holding Sauron let go and grabbed Feanor as he came within striking distance. Sauron merely laughed as Feanor struggled to get loose, which, of course, only made Feanor angrier.

"Let's not forget what things you've had taken from you!" he yelled at Sauron.

Sauron smiled coolly. "You don't need to say 'body' as you have brought that up already."

Feanor shook his head. "No, I was just going to list off about everything else that you could possibly possess, seeing as how you have been reduced to nothing!"

Finally Sauron, in turn, seemed to have reached his breaking point and began to pull at his restrainer in hopes of catching Feanor. There was a brief struggle that followed that Haldir could not see completely, but when it was over, Sauron was loose and was plowing his way over to Feanor.

If Haldir thought the little exchange had been entertaining, what followed was even more so. Feanor had also managed to wiggle out from the hold of the man, and now they both began to kick and hit each other any way they could. That seemed strange to Haldir though, as he had always thought that bodiless spirits had been unable to touch.

He looked at the person next to him and tentatively reached out a hand to see what happened. His translucent fingers had just passed through the elf's arm when he realized that she was looking at him. "Um, hello," he said, giving an uncomfortable smile. The she-elf just shook her head and walked away.

All the same, he had just figured out that it would be impossible for Sauron and Feanor to actually be fighting. Looking closer at them now, he realized that they weren't really able to land any blows as their hands or feet simply passed through the other.

While they attempted to hurt each other, attempting being the key word, they began to sling insults. "I'd never go so low as to slay my kin!" Sauron said as he batted at Feanor's non-existent hands.

"You don't even have any kin. It would be impossible to kill something that didn't exist, dolt!"

"Fairy!"

"The word is elf! Besides, I'm not the one obsessed with jewelry!"

Sauron made a face. "What are you talking about? Yes you are!"

"No I am not!"

"What were the Silmarils then, huh?"

Feanor actually paused. "Oh yeah, you have a point there."

"And I didn't even know how to make rings like I did until your grandson and his cronies taught me!"

"Well at least I didn't go out and seek that knowledge!"

"You wouldn't have to, you figured it out on you own, you little pansy!"

"Well, shows how intelligent I am compared to you if a lowly elf could learn how to make rings and a maia couldn't!"

"I just wasn't as desperate as you were. You're like a little girlie elf!" Sauron stopped a minute as something seemed to occur to him, frowning thoughtfully before raising his eyebrows in surprise. "You really are a fairy!"

"You already tried that before. Can't you think of a better comeback than a previously used one?"

"No, I seriously mean it. You…" He looked at Feanor oddly, frowning. "You have problems."

Everybody else in hearing distance slowly began to murmur to each other as the intended message of this sunk in. Haldir cocked an eyebrow. "Well, this could be interesting," he thought to himself.

Feanor looked absolutely appalled. "I… oh no no nonono!" he cried angrily, going at Sauron with doubled effort.

Sauron, however, did not fight but retreated slowly as Feanor came after him. "Your greatest prize, the thing you went to war for, was jewelry. You were obsessed with your niece's hair and asked her for some on several occasion."

"Three times, only three!" Feanor tried to put in quickly, but few heard.

"You never spent time with your wife and that is why she left you..."

"I have seven sons though, honestly now!"

"And you lived way up north for years with only men! It makes sense now!" Sauron paused again and grimaced. "I don't want to fight you anymore."

"Giving up then eh?" Feanor asked.

"Not giving up really, more like simply putting a stop to the fight. You might make a pass on me or something." Sauron shuddered and then began to walk over to where Namo was shaking his head sadly. "Right then, I'm ready to get out of here now." The guards moved to restrain him again, but he quickly turned to them. "Where do you think I am going to run to? You think I want to stay here without a body? No, I want go get out as soon as I can. I'm going to behave... for now."

The men looked at Namo, who just shrugged. They then backed off and allowed Sauron to make his way over to the hall that Namo was standing in front of.

Feanor did not hinder Sauron's movement, seeming to be incapable of moving himself. A rather stupid expression was printed on his face, somewhere between shock, disgust, amazement, and horror.

After a moment, Namo seemed to return to the present and slowly began to go back the way he had been going, Sauron following closely behind, now without the guards holding him. The gears in his brain taking a minute to catch up to everything, Haldir remembered that he was part of that party and followed after them.