As night fell, the mansion felt less like a house and more like a fortress. Still, it was a fortress with warm light. Eva settled on the sofa with her laptop, Roman sat by the window with a notebook, and I opened my sketchbook. I drew the inner courtyard again, but this time I thought of it as a place where people see and understand each other, not where they hide. I added a curved line connecting two benches that had previously been separated on a whim. A tiny bridge in the drawing. A secret a