I'm constantly asking myself while writing, 'what's this doing here? why do I need this?!' :D The downside is that sometimes I leave readers in the dark because I've failed to provide sufficient explanation
it's a hard balance to strike, isn't it? but i think you did a wonderful job of it here! i've been working at this too, but i just looked at my (not yet posted) fic again yesterday and saw dozens of things i could have chopped out if only i had left myself more time for editing. sigh!