EPISODE 6: THE PRESSURE OF PROXIMITY ## CHAPTER 1: WEATHER WARNING The afternoon sun drips through the heavy damask curtains of the palazzo window, casting dust motes into visible gold shafts that pierce the air. Elena wears her work boots and a denim apron over sensible trousers, the scent of damp earth clinging faintly to the fabric—a scent Dante seems accustomed to, yet somehow always notices anew. They walk the length of the Nebbiolo block, moving methodically between rows of grafted vines. The soil underfoot is dark and yielding, smelling richly of decomposition and wet life. Today’s task, a tedious mapping of sap flow rates, requires them to move slowly, bent low over stakes and measurements. Dante maintains his usual distance—a careful span across the width of two people that functions as both professional boundary and subtle provocation. Elena kneels by a particularly old vine whose trunk has been banded in galvanized steel, noting the color variation in the basal bark. The air is warm, thick with the collective scent of ripening grapes and minerals disturbed by the morning’s rain. She uses her fingers to scrape away some clinging moss, revealing the deeply fissured wood beneath. Dante stops a few paces behind her, waiting for her report before he moves on to his next reading. His presence is always...