This scene where Raoden and Sarene meet on equal grounds is, I hope, something that people have been waiting for. I intended the moment when Sarene lets Raoden take her hand to be a major event in the book. The phrase ‘For the first time’ (I.e., she took his hand for the first time) was added at Moshe’s suggestion. I’m personally not as fond of it as I could be—my opinion is often times, making a passage shorter actually emphasizes it more. However, I wasn’t so set on those four words that I insisted on not putting them in.
These two chapters—forty and forty-one—are another sequential pair in a triad, like I did before. I wanted to push out of Raoden’s viewpoint as quickly as possible here, because he’s already seen Elantris and New Elantris. In these scenes, Sarene’s view of things will be more fresh—and therefore more interesting. She can experience some parts of Elantris for the first time, and we can enjoy her realization and discovery.
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