I can definitely see it--Fiver and Kassandra was clear, and the escape before the ruin, and the establishing of a new home somewhere else I can definitely see too. I was wondering if there was some kind of analogue for Efrafa though, and here you've supplied one! The Efrafa part for me just thrusts me totally into a distopic anti-totalitarian space that I don't associate with epics, but you were able to get beyond that :-) (I was terrified of Efrafa as a kid, when I read the book. It was one of those things where I wondered if I could figure out a way to get away, whether I could be brave enough, etc.)