Can a scene that's intimate, yet not explicit be considered a sex scene?
What about an interaction between two characters that's supremely revealing of both of them as individuals and as members of a couple that merely includes sentences like: "Their lovemaking is tender and slow. It is as if he's traversing her body, making a map of it for himself" (588)?
Perhaps not in the strictest sense, but not all sex scenes need to be something that could wind up in an E.L. James novel.
Unsurprisingly, Kay's minimalism serves him well when he writes of Ren and Shan's final meeting at East Slope. Particularly because after all that we've read of them we can create the parting scene of their relationship ourselves. He need only give us the pieces.
If the separation of these two lovers - one the holder of a stubborn purpose and the other a person born and raised well before a time in which she could prosper - isn't enough heartbreak, Kay sets the seal on Ren's official fate in chapter twenty nine as well.
As there's still one chapter more, nothing's explicit, but the story is set to end with Ren, the one bearing the mark of the [fox spirit] that marks him as the one to restore Kitan's rivers and mountains, stripped of rank. Just as Kitai is stripped of much of its land.
In these final few chapters, what Kay has done is just what he does with Ren and Shan's relationship. As a storyteller, he has given us enough of a framework through the events he's told of and characters he's shared to let us (or, specifically, our imaginations) fill in the rest.
Though, one last chapter does remain. More could be said, but I'm left with the sense that River of Stars' thirtieth chapter will be like the cinematic that plays under the credits after finishing a story-driven video game.
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