Cassius felt his own heart constrict at the raw longing in her voice.
"From that day on." Ragnora continued. "I started noticing romance everywhere. It was as though someone had opened my eyes."
She held up one massive finger.
"For example, I saw the human couple from the settlement down the road who always held hands when they came to trade at the ogre market. Just holding hands—such a simple thing, but the way their fingers intertwined, the way she would squeeze his palm and he would squeeze back..."
She held up another finger.
"I saw the two ogres who fought in the training yard every evening. Everyone thought they were rivals, but if you watched closely, you could see it. They were holding back. Neither of them ever landed a blow that would truly hurt the other."
"And when the match was over, they'd walk away together, shoulders touching, and there was something in their eyes that wasn't rivalry at all."
A third finger.
"When I left the village, I saw even more."
