As we crossed the bridge toward the city center and my house, Sadie looked upward, staring so intently that she forgot to look where she was walking and nearly stumbled. Taking her arm so she would not fall, I followed her gaze. At first I thought she was trying to see Wawel Castle, which sat high on its hill, partly obscured by the riverbed. But her neck was craned beyond that, her eyes locked on the night sky. “They look almost blue tonight,” she said, her voice filled with marvel.

I remembered then how on the day we met, one of the very first things she asked me was about the stars. “Which constellations can you see?”

“There,” she said eagerly, pointing to the north. “That’s Ursa Major, or the great bear. My father used to say as long as you could find it, you would never be lost.” Her words spilled out in a great tumble. She spun around. “And over there, that long triangle with a tail is called the Chamaeleon.” I tried to follow her finger as she drew lines in the air, connecting the stars, but I could not see the images.

We walked swiftly from the bridge toward the Old Town. Sadie did not speak, but as we neared the city center, I could see her drinking in the familiar streets, which had been hidden from her view for months.

Several minutes later, we turned onto Kanonicza Street. “You live here?” Sadie asked with disbelief as I led her around the back of the house.

“Yes.” I saw our house from Sadie’s eyes then, realizing how grand it must look after the awful places she had lived. For a second, I wondered if she might resent me for it. But there was no time to worry. I put my finger to my lips to signal that she should be quiet so the neighbors would not hear us. At the back of the house, I unlocked the door and let her inside.

I started up the servants’ staircase, but behind me, Sadie stopped. “Ella, it isn’t safe for me to be here,” she whispered, too loudly.

“My stepmother is out for the evening,” I reassured her, urging her up one flight of stairs and then two more to the garret.

“Have a seat,” I said. Sadie hesitated, looking awkwardly around my room, and I realized she did not want to stain anything with her dirty clothes. I laid a throw blanket across the soft chair where I liked to draw and read. “There.” I noticed then how pale and tired she looked. “When was the last time you ate?” She did not answer, and I wondered whether she could not remember or did not want to say. “I’ll be right back.” I scampered back down the stairs to the kitchen and pulled a plate of meat and cheese from the icebox, too rushed now to care if Hanna noticed them missing, and carried them back upstairs.