[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

She nudged the disc slightly, impressed with the weight of it. Even if she wanted to, she would not be able to carry it with her during her searches, and that meant it was worthless. Still, it clearly wanted to be with her so she supposed she would keep it in a corner of the cave where it wouldn't take up too much room.

She began to push it over to the corner with her snout, little by little as it slid through the fine sand.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

She let out another stream of bubbles in surprise as the item made a 'clicking' noise, and the engraved disc separated from the heavy base, dropping to the floor to reveal a finer chain attached to it's back, almost as if it had understood her thoughts.

Gloria twisted herself as she moved towards it, cautiously poking at it with the end of her snout in case it would do anything else unexpectedly. She wriggled her snout into the loop of chain, continuing to wriggle until it was seated around her neck.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

It was much lighter without the heavy seating, though Gloria was puzzled as there was no longer any visible means of rotation for the engraved arrow. She turned to the broken shard of mirror-glass against the wall, surprised when she saw the arrow clearly rotate in the mirror to point at the shard, despite still appearing to be engraved on the metal surface. She swam closer to inspect the reflection, and watched as the arrow appeared to move smoothly, almost floating just below the metal.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Gloria twisted, uncomfortable with the slight weight of the item around her neck, and sighed when it dropped to the sandy cave floor, chain coiling up beside it. She used her lower jaw to pick up the chain and swam over to the corner where she kept her treasures, dropping it there and nudging it into place with her fins and snout.

She turned away, and did not see the arrow begin to rotate towards her as she picked up the pouch of Keystones with her mouth and carried it over to her little chest of money.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Satisfied with what had been a very successful day, she curled up on the soft silky sand pile she used as a bed, and closed her eyes, steady streams of bubbles soon emerging from her nostrils.

She dreamed tremendous dreams - a ship, sailing full tilt through a storm, the captain desperately steering her though he could barely see through the rain. A sudden blast of boiling water and steam from below, the ship breaking in two, and sinking beneath the waves.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

As the ship went down in her dream, Gloria awoke, panicked as she felt the loss of everyone on board in the boiling sea. A heavy weight around her neck felt like a noose, and she swam over to the shard of mirrored glass, only to see that she was now wearing the heavy engraved arrow pendant around her neck, though she was sure she had tucked it into the corner, and she began squirming to try and slip the chain over her head.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

This time, however, it was as if the chain itself had shrunk - no matter how much she turned, or squirmed, she couldn't get it off. She began to panic, and in her desperation she spotted the base in the mirror shard, lying untouched where she had left it the night before.

She moved over to where the heavy base lay, and felt a tug as the chain tried to re-attach itself, sighing in relief as the chain around her neck slackened.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

She quickly slipped the loop of chain over her head, and watched as it fell next to the base, touching it but not attaching itself to the base like she had half-expected it to do. She felt puzzled, and very uncomfortable - this was very clearly a cursed item, and she resolved to take it to the mage who lived in a hut by the cliffside first thing in the morning - perhaps he could tell her why it was attached to her in the first place.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

As soon as the water began to lighten, Gloria made her way out of her concealed den, the heavy base and it's pendant carried in a pouch in her jaws. The weight of it made her slower than usual, and she was very careful in case she was spotted by anything she did not wish to encounter - a chase would mean dropping the pouch, and she did not want to risk being unable to remove the pendant if she lost the base.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

The mage was waiting for her at the edge of the pier, as if he had anticipated her visit, and he held out his hand for the pouch without waiting for an explanation. He pulled a jeweller's eyepiece out of his pocket and held it to his eye, as he pulled out the heavy gold pendant and its base and examined them carefully in the morning sunlight.

Gloria waited just under the water's surface, where she found it easier to breathe, and hoped he would be able to help her.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Gloria pulled her head above the surface, as the mage held out the pouch to her, its contents now covered.

"What is that thing, and why did it keep attaching itself to me?" she asked, cautiously waiting for his answer before she would consider accepting the pouch. She didn't like the fact that he was trying to give it back to her, nor had it escaped her notice that he never once touched the golden metal objects with his skin, having used the fabric of the pouch to handle them as he examined them.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

The mage sighed, and cleared his throat.

"This is an enchanted compass, which has been near a source of natural energy for far too long. It has a semblance of consciousness, in that it recognised the first being to come across it as its owner, and it seems to want to return to you - the arrow kept turning towards you regardless of how I held it.

Gloria swam around in a circle nervously, as she listened to his explanation.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

"Can't you keep it?" she asked; the gold was clearly valuable, but the thought that it could suddenly pop out of nowhere to weigh her down was terrifying, especially considering some of the things she had faced in the deep ocean.

The mage sighed impatiently, and beckoned her to take the heavy pouch. "I'm afraid you're stuck with it - I fear if you leave it with me now, it will simply make its own way to you at a time of its own choosing, rather than yours."

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Gloria sighed, and swam up against the pier to reluctantly accept the pouch back into her jaws. She had known, deep down, that she was not going to be able to leave the heavy compass behind, but she had hoped he could at least stop it from being so heavy.

The mage tilted his head, as if having heard her thoughts, and Gloria sunk lower sheepishly, realising she had been thinking very unkind thoughts and had begun blaming him for something which really had nothing to do with him at all.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

"If you don't want it appearing at an inconvenient moment, take the pendant with you around your neck" the mage advised, leaning on his staff. "If you will it to be smaller, or lighter, it will accommodate your wishes, but if you try to leave it behind or get rid of it, you'll probably find it shows up at the worst possible moment."

Unable to speak clearly with the pouch in her mouth, Gloria nodded her head in thanks and dived down into the water, before turning to swim back to her cave.