[@Muttonhawk] Of course. Sherlock Holmes, for instance, is a great story precisely because of its mysteries and how they're pieced together, but in other stories it's these mysteries that create cliffhangers, which I hate. And it's not like you should ever make a character suffer for the sake of suffering, just make them have a good life with a fair share of trips and tumbles, like you're doing with Conata.

These rules are spices tbh. Add too much or too little and your story will usually end up bad.