Ocean's Breath Plateau john barleycorn was dead

aditya went along with the amusement, smiling, smiling—and then his face went almost comically blank. wait, what?! 

hold on, he cut in, just on the edge of that 'btdubs'. . .or whatever it had been. did you say 'dutch'? that 'dutch guy'?

it couldn't be. . . well, it could. stranger things had happened. rajendra had hunted him down, after all. and he had known—had to have known—that this could be a possibility. one didn't simply keep walking away from their children and not think they might well be followed.

guilt surged through him, and he looked at brook, teeth clenched. she hadn't reacted much to the man's remark, but then, maybe it had gone over her head. they hadn't spent much time back at white spine before they were off wandering again; perhaps she just didn't know dutch well enough to take notice.