Chapter 1: Odi et Amo

So they have finally come for him, Jin thought, literally dropping the chickenpig as she began to run towards the house. Happy to be released from its mistress' arms, the animal scampered off into the underbrush, following the rest of the flock. Jin was too wrapped up in the worry that had suddenly take hold of her to notice the escape. The house was little more than a cabin, and usually looked like a typical Earth Kingdom farmhouse – but what ordinary Earth Kingdom house was graced by a group of grumpy komodo rhinos tied to the porch railing? The rhinos were decked in the red and black livery of the Fire Nation, causing Jin to grimace, though she was not entirely surprised. It was a bit unexpected, perhaps, that they had come so soon - who would have thought to look for him here, in this rural backwater? It was inevitable, though, that it would happen eventually. I knew this day would come, she told herself.

Her first instinct was to rush in, to throw open the door and tell them to leave her husband alone. He didn't belong to them now. She wasn't that stupid, though. Instead, she slowed her steps, smoothed her braids, and then tucked her hands into the sleeves of her green robe. She walked purposefully towards the door, trying not to let the rhinos see how nervous she was in their presence.

It wasn't like she didn't know that he was from the fire nation. It was obvious, after all. She should have figured it out on that first date. They had gone to see the firelight fountain, but all the lamps were out. He had asked her to close her eyes, and when she had opened them, the lamps were all lit. No one could have done that but a firebender. Of course, Jin didn't make that connection at the time. She might have, if he and his uncle hadn't disappeared a few days later and if, mere days after their disappearance, the Earth Kingdom had not fallen to the Fire Nation, the great walls of Ba Sing Sei brought low for the first time in history. And she would have known had she listened to the rumours, the ones that the regulars at the tea house told, about how the old man would sometimes warm the tea without flint or kindling or any source of fire beyond his own hands.

She finally pushed her way past the last of the rhinos to the door, and was on the verge of opening it when she heard a voice from inside.

"No, you don't get it," her husband was explaining to someone, "The Earth Kingdom ceremony, it isn't like that."

A stranger's voice replied, "So you're married but . . . not married?"

"Exactly," her husband said.

Jin stood there on the porch, her hand mere centimetres away from the rough wooden door. Married but not married? How could that be? Why was her husband even talking about such things with these Fire Nation soldiers, rather than ordering them from his home? This was his life now, here with her, not off somewhere with the Fire Nation army he had somehow escaped. Jin had half a mind to go in and tell him off, but then he spoke again. The tone of his voice was irritated and weary, the tone that typified Jin's husband in so many ways, the tone she loved and hated at the same time.

"If I had known that I was going to go home again," her husband said, "then I would never have gone through with that stupid Earth Kingdom wedding ceremony."

As Jin's world crashed down around her, her only thought was 'I hate you, Zuko'.

Note to the reader: The Latin in the Chapter title translates to "I hate and I love". The phrase is famously used as the opening to a poem (Carmina LXXXV) by the Ancient Roman poet Catullus.

Please look forward to Chapter 2; comments and suggestions are welcome.