Stories change from the first, second, third, fifteenth, twentieth, etc. draft. There is no way for us to know if R.J., looking at how he finalized certain moments, would have changed the story. Interestingly, the way he set up the series to occur in a cyclical universe meant that we as readers are free to imagine changes in the characters, their storylines and how the events played out while preserving the overall structure of the quest. He might have fleshed out the last scene or Alivia's role more if he had more time, but the clock wound down and he was racing to finish the story with the time he had left. This was probably the ending R. J. envisioned, but certain characters may have survived, others may have died with no fanfare while others might have had other things happen to them. Tuon, in particular, seemed like she was set up for a big moment of character development that would set her up to become a heroine in Outriggers that never was followed through.