Tyko had always been a morning person, which surprised most people who didn’t know him very well. It was something about growing up in a city where the sun was always bright and demanding that got him into the habit. It wasn’t a bad thing though, and he most certainly appreciated and used the extra time it allotted for being productive. He’d woken up at nearly half past five, when the sun was just beginning to breach the horizon and set fire to the few clouds that above it. That was reason two of why Tyko enjoyed waking up so early. It was pretty and peaceful and he happened to enjoy it quite a bit.
His morning began with a simple routine: get dressed and then make breakfast. It was still difficult for him to remember that he was only cooking for himself, even after a year of living on his own, so it was often that he made far too much food for one sitting, and had to preserve the rest for lunch. In a way, it made things easier for him, but it always reminded him of how long it’d been since he’d sat down and had a meal with his parents. Tyko had been on call for the entirety of his time working for the anti-war effort, and he’d been made to travel away from home for a lot of it. His parents believed he was visiting a friend for a month or two, but that had been nearly over a year ago. He didn’t know what they might believe now, but he still missed them, and didn’t mind the subtle reminders he often had of them.
After breakfast (and lunch prep), Tyko’s usual routine brought him to the outskirts of the city next, where he either exercised his bending a bit as to avoid staying idle or did odd jobs for farmers to earn a bit of extra cash. Today, however, Tyko’d been a bit sluggish, and took his own sweet time about leaving the house. The sun had begun making its way upward now, but wasn’t quite at his zenith when he finally stepped out from the front door. His brown mop of hair was still messy from a night of rest, but he didn’t care too much about appearances, and left it.
He caught a short glimpse of Leia as she passed by his home, returning her wave with an odd sort of saluting gesture and a lazy grin, before she was quickly out of sight. He’d met her here in this city not too long after he moved in. She was kind and friendly, despite being a bit older than himself, and proved to be plenty tough despite not being a bender. In a way, Tyko respected her. He kept grinning for a short second after she’d disappeared, but fell when he felt someone nudge his attention.
“Hmm?” he made a sound and turned around to face a short lad with a messenger bag slung over his shoulder. The boy didn’t say anything, and only handed Tyko a small piece of folded parchment with the Lotus’ insignia neatly pressed into its wax seal. An order, no doubt. Tyko gave the kid a knowing smile and quietly took the parchment, allowing the boy to then hurry off to continue his business and for himself to hurry and open the letter.
“They want me to go back to that bloody camp?” Tyko spouted immediately after reading the few lines written on the parchment.
"Do they not realize that they've placed themselves in the middle of the damn ocean?" He could feel the familiar twinge of irritation in the back of his mind, along with something more close to fear. He'd never liked the ocean very much, and for many more (grounded) reasons than simply being an earth bender. Ignoring all of that, he turned around and stomped back into his home, begrudgenly accepting the order. If he was going to travel to an island that far into the ocean though, then he’d need supplies. Food, mostly, and some emergency items. The ocean was an unforgiving place for the unprepared, and that thought alone made him cautious.
Tyko reemerged from his home about an hour later, a thick pack now strapped securely to his back, and a few more articles of clothing wrapped around his person, and began making his way towards the docks, where he rented out a small sailboat. He was lucky to have manned sand-sailors as often as he did while growing up, allowing for an easier transition to running the riggings of a sailboat, which were surprisingly similar. The ocean was calm while Tyko loaded himself and his luggage onto the tiny vessel. Low waves arched further out to sea, but didn’t look like anything he couldn’t handle weaving through. It wasn’t long before he untied himself from the docks and raised his single sheet of sail into the waiting breeze, sending him rushing across the water and towards The White Lotus’ base camp.
