Sofia moved smoothly through the crowd, offering champagne to clusters of elegantly dressed guests, the string orchestra's music providing a pleasant backdrop to the evening's practiced sociability. She'd nearly completed her circuit of the main ballroom floor when an older woman in an elaborate tiara stepped directly into her path, stopping her mid-stride with a sudden, startling intensity.
The woman's gaze wasn't on Sofia's face, nor on the tray of champagne she carried. It was fixed entirely on the pendant resting against her collarbone, her expression carrying a focus so sharp it bordered on alarming.
"That pendant," the woman said, her voice carrying an authoritative edge despite its underlying unsteadiness. "Where did you get it?"
Sofia shifted the tray slightly, caught off guard by the directness of the question. "It was my mother's," she said carefully, uncertain what about the piece had captured this stranger's attention so completely.
The woman reached out, her gloved hand hovering near the pendant without quite touching it, her eyes tracing the ornate carving with an intensity that suggested recognition rather than simple curiosity.