"Buy her clothes!" suggests Elyon.
Irma agrees. "Corny's, like, obsessed with fashion."
"She'd probably return whatever he bought." Will pouts. "Remember I got her that scarf for Christmas?"
Cue argument about whether the scarf was actually as heinous as Cornelia had thought.
"You could get her a voucher for something," Taranee offers. "At least that means she won't return it!"
"Kinda impersonal for her sweet sixteen, don't you think?" says Hay Lin. "You should make her something!"
A well-received suggestion. It only takes them an hour to come up with an idea that isn't terrible.
Hundreds gather in the castle's great hall. She pretends to be surprised when she arrives with the Guardians. He kisses her cheek and tries to ignore the way his stomach churns. Ten minutes later, Cornelia returns in a sapphire gown, and he feels like all the air has been knocked out of him. Caleb spends the night avoiding her, but her searching look eventually finds him. He interlocks their fingers and leads her to the balcony.
The chain is thin and delicate, the pendant itself covered in lines and dots. "It's what the sky looked like the night we met." He turns it over. Stars are mapped on its flat surface, different constellations on each side, imprinted carefully in the silver. "One side is what the sky looked like from Meridian, the other side from Earth."
For once, Cornelia is silent. "Do you like it?"
Suddenly, she is in his arms again. This time she has definitely knocked the wind out of him. Caleb is too stupidly, deliriously, unabashedly happy to care.
"It's perfect."