Claude's reasoning was sound. In fact, Anise had considered that too, back when she was thinking up objections to him going before her. Being able to feel was vital to swordsmanship, and she needed a voice for fonic artes. This way, they'd all get to stay in good fighting shape.

The sound of the staff's thud was as ominous as ever, but what was even worse was the sound that came out of the skeleton's mouth after that. Anise was taken aback for a moment, flinching at hearing her friend's voice coming from the ferryman. She took a moment to absorb both that and the information he was giving them, and then sighed. "Now I'm really glad I didn't pay tonight."

Before boarding the ferry, however, Anise went to Claude's side, her hand fishing around behind her for something as she did. "I brought these just in case. You should take them," she explained before finding and producing a pen and two folded paper scraps. "We can probably get by on gestures, but if you need, you can use this!" So long as they didn't end up swimming again, that was.

Once those were handed over, she flashed him an encouraging smile and hurried over to the boat, settling into a seat with as much distance from Guy as was possible in such a small space.