The Compass Changes

Name: The Compass Changes
Date: Brightfall 7, Year 684
Description: Edran returned home carrying a brass compass whose face had gone strange—no longer pointing toward the north star that guides ordinary travelers, but instead turning its needle toward those who speak falsehoods, as if drawn by the weight of untruth itself. In storms, when the sky darkens and thunder splits the world, the needle swings instead toward empty roads and barren places, away from shelter and safety. Mira encountered the compass for the first time that day, her eyes catching the glint of tarnished brass as Edran turned it over in his hands. She asked where it had come from, what journey had yielded such an artifact. But Edran would not answer. He held the compass close and said nothing, his jaw tight, his gaze fixed on some distant point she could not follow. The silence between them grew heavy with what he refused to tell—the kind of silence that speaks louder than words, that fills a room like fog. She did not ask again. Some truths, it seemed, the compass would not point toward anyway.