Oh. Oh. This - is going to be really incredibly awkward, isn't it. 

:A friend of Ekunde. No time to explain. Go through the Gate - I'll find the others -: 

He broadens his Thoughtsensing. 

This man is hanging onto the ajar trapdoor that appears to usually lead belowdecks, and is now sideways and mostly submerged - he's trying to tie a rope to something. 

This kid is holding onto one end of the rope and treading water, keeping it from getting tangled in the splintered remains of the mast. 

This girl, presumably Ekunde/Tadesse's sister Ayodele, is popping up for air, more like seventy yards away from the ship now. She's an incredibly strong swimmer, Vanyel thinks with awe. 

He Mindspeaks all of them. :Here to rescue you. Gate this way. Please come over, or think at me if you need help: 

Yewande is not going through that without her son. Other son. It sounds like maybe Ekunde is...safe?

She doesn't know whether this 'friend' can be trusted or is telling the truth or why he doesn't speak common trade-tongue, but she can't see that they have a choice but to accept his help. 

Have to find Kun first, Ayodele thinks loudly back at him. Can you help -

:Ekunde isn't here. He's, um, somewhere else. Safe. Er, can you swim back here or do you need help: 

Oh. 

A pause. 

I can swim back. And she gets to work on this. 

The man surfaces. "Whoever you are - this is my, our, ship - not leaving without it–" 

:I'm sorry. I can't get the ship, just you. Um, if you want to get some of your things - are they in the hold–: 

"My books. And maps. Yes. Not safe to swim in in the rough water." 

:I can Fetch some things out. Think at me what they look like?: Vanyel is kind of rolling his eyes at this man's insistence on getting his personal belongings, when he could have died, but then again, if he imagines the prospect of losing, say, all his notes from the conversations with Leareth... 

Berko is so confused and dubious but he thinks about the magic-sealed crate with all his precious books, and the oilcloth pouch that has all their additional maps - and if it's not too much trouble, Ekunde would be devastated to lose the navigational device he invented for this journey, it looks like so - 

Vanyel swims over to the Gate, so he can Fetch these into his hand one at a time and shove them through to Leareth, who's waiting with an unreadably neutral expression. 

Yewande boosts her youngest son through the Gate onto - whatever it is on the other side, where is that - and then shoots a despairing look back at the ship. They've seen it through fifteen years of journeys. It's circumnavigated the main continent with them, nearly got stuck in the ice up north but they made it through. And now...

...now, she thinks, she does not want to die. 

She accepts Leareth's hand and slithers through onto the floor of the Void-ship, shivering. 

Berko waits for his daughter to make it back from her desperate, almost-certainly-futile search, which - turns out not to be necessary? Thank the Many Gods for that, he doesn't understand anything yet but if this stranger saved Kun...

Ayodele reaches them, breathing hard, and treads water for a moment, shouting to her father, before accepting a boost through. 

Berko follows, and then Vanyel, and that's all of them. 

Leareth drops the Gate with immense relief, and focuses on taking deep breaths for a moment until the dizziness and spots in his vision subside. He has one Recharge Innate Reserves left, which he casts as soon as he can concentrate on it - it gets some of the empty feeling, but not the reaction-headache. 

His single Lesser Restoration is almost certainly more urgently needed by any one of these people. :Van, who's hurt worst:

Vanyel isn't nearly as tired - holding a ship steady in a force-net, Fetching air into it to displace some of the water, and Fetching out some boxes isn't enough to wear him out, though his Fetching channels in particular were giving him a warning twinge on the last round. He's been trying to ask in Mindspeech and also touching each of them to use Healing Sight. 

:The kid, I think. They're all dehydrated and suffering from exposure but he's the smallest: 

Leareth drags himself over to the boy and taps him with Lesser Restoration, which fortunately isn't tiring to cast. 

Awed look. "Whoa." And now that he's less exhausted and miserable, Dayo has the energy to look around. "Whoa," he repeats, more emphatically. "What - where...?" 

Yfandes approaches them, cautiously, and settles down to start radiating body heat at maximum Companion force. :We can't understand your language, sorry, but we can read your surface thoughts so you can answer. This is our ship, in the Void, which is what Gates go through. We're travellers from another world, we - know Ekunde's, uh, friend, Tadesse: 

You have Kun? Is he safe?