As they come closer a paler shape shows between the trees and through the underbrush that grows thicker near the water. It's a riverboat, tied up to a snag. Lashan hisses faintly between her teeth and moves her head like a hound scenting the air. Thistle lowers his head and puts his ears back; the less experienced Safflower may react more as she picks up on the tension in the air.

It's easier for Lashan, suspicious and practiced as she is, to detect shielded people somewhere like this than it would be in a city. It's rare and very difficult to become invisible to normal senses, so even when shields keep her from hearing someone's mind the animals and people around them know they are there, and wild animals are markedly aware of humans and create a space in a way other people in a crowd usually don't. She's not up to the kind of multitasking it takes to use animal senses and piece together what they see, but she knows they see something.

Either there's a whole band of trained Gifted here - here in lands technically under the purview of the Holy See, which suppresses those traditions and forces them underground as the Sisterhood's are - or one stronger person, probably qualifying as a mage, has prepared several others for an encounter with people who rely on mindreading. Neither is good. Lashan leans back, signalling Thistle to stop, and waits and listens.