Empath. In Anton's world, they were essentially the same thing. Sensitives usually saw through time, through life or deathly barriers, or could influence memory; but they very rarely felt others' emotions. Even those who claimed to be mind-readers couldn't do it--it took so much effort for them to track thoughts, and under such specific circumstances, that emotions were bypassed entirely.

"Many?" Anton repeated thoughtfully, with a kind of reserved nostalgia. "No. Only one. But I suppose you could call him an empath as well; it was the emotions attached to the thoughts which dragged him into them. It isn't a common ability, where I'm from. He was hunted for it."

Which ... didn't precisely answer Amberdrake's implicit question. So Anton added, "He was a member of my unit in a very long war. We became brothers, the lot of us. After two centuries, there was very little any of us tried to hide from him."

As if they'd ever been able to do so. When Hopeless said nothing, it was because his vow of silence was just that strong, or because he believed it was the best thing for them.