WESTEROS AU XII: STEAMPUNK CAPTAIN TEMPEST

COME UNDONE

An ASoIaF fusion with Emilio Salgari's novel
Capitan Tempesta (Captain Tempest)

In a steampunk-ish Westeros where airships travel across floating landmasses, the people wear Georgian/Regency clothes, and the Lannister clan leads a dictatorship with the only firearms in Westeros except for the old-fashioned matchlocks of the Dornish (that is, guns are exclusive to the Lannisters!)... an unlikely heroine shows up. She fights for freedom. And she knows her captive beloved is still alive, kept prisoner alive in the Lannisters' power.
They call her the Maid of Tarth.
Renly Baratheon is kept as the personal valet, "pet", and pleasure giver of Cersei Lannister. Ever since she received the dashing young officer for her thirtieth birthday, she's been trying, in vain, to let him yield to her advances. And her love hurts... literally.
The Maid of Tarth... or rather, Lieutenant (going on Captain) Brienne Tarth, AKA Brienne the Blue, AKA the Maid of Tarth, has been searching for her commanding officer ever since, right before she could get a promotion, he was taken prisoner. Such is the passion in her feelings towards Renly. On her side, this awkward leader relies on a motley crew of specialists in different areas to prepare the ultimate heist on Casterly Rock. A rather motley crew... For the close-quarters fighting stand Brienne herself and her second-in-command, fellow lieutenant (and subordinate of Renly's) Loras Tyrell. Add an upstart privateer who lacks four fingertips as the captain of their airship, a dethroned princess of the Iron Islands with the sharpest airship-fighting skills on this side of the Arm of Dorne... a few Dornish stepsisters who serve as the crew's whip-wielder, healer, sharpshoooter, and first mate (later promoted to captain)... and a young orphan boy soldier called Podrick, formerly at the Lannisters' service and taken prisoner by Brienne, becoming the Maid's disciple and considered a "load" by the rest of the crew... though he is already a war veteran, eager to show the leader what he can do.
A year and a day of pursuit have finally reaped their reward, since Pod knows of Renly's whereabouts ever since he was at the Lannister's service. Turns out he isn't such a load after all...

In a bandit camp in neutral Dorne, the Maid and her crew come across a relentless leader of outlaws, who, after having challenged and subsequently defeated both Loras Tyrell and Nymeria Sand, challenges Brienne to a duel. There is a hook at the end of his right arm, where a hand should be. With golden hair, emerald eyes, and an air of mystery that surrounds him completely, the dashing outcast is no match for the Maid of Tarth. Yet she unexpectedly spares his life after disarming him. Who is this stranger, so different from her friendly and outspoken Renly? The crew members have a reason to distrust him, so Brienne has to keep the name of her worthy opponent a secret. For he has told her he is Jaime Lannister, war hero and heir to Casterly Rock, yet rejected by his family for circumstances he shan't tell anyone...
Soon, Jaime is shown to sponsor a motley detachment short of funds, to provide funds for repairing the Black Betha, a good workshop to repair it, a Lannister war airship (?) called the Castamere, and provisions for the crew's quest towards Casterly Rock... aside from a skilful healer, an impressive whip-wielding lady of war should Brienne ever be disabled, a female pirate captain should Davos suffer an accident, and a kunoichi-like trickster-cum-sharpshooter, all four stepsisters and blood-related to the Martells. And a couple of Lannister field officer uniforms for Brienne and Loras (and a subaltern uniform for Pod)! For Jaime Lannister, who'll stay behind and then make his way to the Westerlands on his own on the Black Betha, has already planned the heist and carefully written the script for Brienne and her crew to perform. She accepts, but Loras doesn't give in without a little coaxing.
How will Jaime's heist plot be carried out? And why has he planned things this way? Why must the Maid and her right hand trade their buff and green for red and gold... And why would Jaime send Brienne to Casterly Rock in his stead?

Casterly Rock area, about a week later.
Operation Castamere is about to begin...
Ever since her father left for the war front to visit her every now and then, Cersei Lannister feels on top of the world. Partly due to her new promotion to heiress and Lady of the Westerlands, partly due to the confinement of enemy POWs from different regions in the Casterly Mines and various fortification projects... not counting her elusive pleasure object, Renly Baratheon, given a special place on account of his rank and good looks. Yet she has started to gradually yield to ennui...
Then, suddenly...
A grand-looking Lannister war airship lands next to Casterly Rock itself. The captain and first mate have arrived fresh from the front, to stay garrisoned as bodyguards in the Lannisters' hall. Their names? Three-Star Commander Etienne (later, Etienne-Goodwin) of Pennytree and One-Star Commander Willas Flowers, together with the higher-ranking officer's younger aide, Lieutenant Ilyn Flowers: defectors from the Free Alliance who represent a group of turncoats called The Regretful, and the Lannister High Command's alleged decision that one First Commander Renly Baratheon, being one of the Alliance's highest officers, should join their unit and serve Lannister interests on the battlefield.
They come across Cersei in an elegant marquee on a nearby height, dressed in a green bolero jacket with a white empire-waist gown over Lannister officer's breeches and footware, sipping from an ornate baroque cup.
Not only is the lady smitten with blond and blue-eyed "Etienne", eager to learn more about "his" family history (made up from incidents in Renly's childhood!)... She takes him solo on a tête-à-tête grand tour of the Casterly property, including quarries, mines in the hills, the fortifications...  including a riding race against the freckled newcomer. Both appear to have met their match at last...
During afternoon tea at Casterly Rock, conversation turns towards Westerland history and that of the Lannisters. Then, towards what it means to be a Lannister lady and about sensation seeking (a favourite theme of the heiress's). And then, towards Tywin Lannister himself. Cersei gets half-drunk while relentlessly praising her lord father at the time the cakes arrive, then crowns the event with a superb rendition of "The Rains of Castamere", a song that "Etienne" finds slightly depressing.
And finally, she decides to put Etienne-Brienne to the test. With a swordfight against the great powerhouse/juggernaut of the Lannister ranks: Sir Gregor "The Fricking Möuntän that Fricking Rides" Clegane. This will truly prove a clash of the titans...

In spite of being underestimated, the Maid finally wins the curb-stomp confrontation.
Lady Lannister can't take her eyes off her new crush, completely unaware of "Etienne-Goodwin"'s secret... And so, as the sun sets and hours fly by, the heist plot appears to have been completely forgotten, as the soirée takes, gradually, a more erotic turn...

The Castamere is still moored near Casterly Rock, as Lady Lannister is awwwwwwww awwwwww aw aw aww awww caught in a bad romance. At the supper table, her conversation with newcomer "Etienne-Goodwin" gets more and more intimate, and the mercury rises fast. The thin line between love and hatred is soon blurred, as a half-drunken Cersei tells her story of star-crossed love.
For her, there's no young man as dashing or brave as Jaime. She loved him passionately, intensely, but their relationship gradually cooled... and, to make matters worse, Lord Tywin was finally obliged to tear his children apart, disinheriting Jaime if he doesn't show his prowess at the war front. So Jaime took farewell of her and of their home coldly, without a kiss or a look back, as she wept and clung to his waist... and he shoved her away. Could it be that he cared more for military glory? Now promoted to heiress, Cersei is still looking back, and she has spent endless nights awake, tossing and turning... (Nice Freudian excuse). So she's finished with him. That relationship is NO MORE.

And this is only half the basics. Lady Lannister's got a new crush (we're NOT talking about faulty ersatz Renly!), that she plans to use against her former crush. And the heist plot hasn't been forgotten.
So Cersei gives "Etienne" a tough all-or-nothing choice: Renly will only be set free if "Etienne" manages to take away Jaime's life. Either that or nothing. A catch 22 that there's no turning back from.
And better remember the lyrics to "The Rains of Castamere" to know what happens to those who oppose the Lannisters...
"Etienne" lets Lady Lannister know that "he" has already defeated Jaime. Soon, an elated Cersei confesses her feelings for "Etienne" and steals a kiss from "his" lips. That night, everyone in the lead cast stays awake.
The next day, at the crack of dawn, Renly is set free. Cersei accompanies "Etienne", "Willas", and "Ilyn" to the warship, kissing her new lover farewell with tears on her cheeks. She will miss "him" dearly, and "Etienne-Goodwin" has promised to return as soon as Jaime Lannister is defeated.

"Willas" has been lagging behind the others throughout the trek. No sooner has Lady Lannister seen her new lover get on board, that said lover's second-in-command whispers something in her ear...
"That fellow was a woman, and a lieutenant in the enemy ranks. Even more, she's in league with Jaime..."
For a while, Cersei turns pale, and she's about to faint... before bursting in a fit of rage that makes Loras run for cover. Then, she vehemently gives orders that her own war airship, Tywin's Pride, commanded by Kevan Lannister, should intercept the Castamere and capture the traitors... ALIVE OR ALIVE! Second on board the Pride will be Loras Tyrell, now demasked yet turned a full-fledged quisling and Lannisterian.
She's going to stay herself at Casterly Rock and vent her anger at innocent kittens, pillows, and some of the maidservants. This will be a tantrum to remember...


On the Castamere, Renly and Brienne finally embrace after a heartwarming reunion. He is elated and proud of being freed by the Maid. It seems that they have awakened from an unquiet dream.
The airship is heading for some skyport in the Reach, for Brienne to keep her oath and assassinate Jaime Lannister.
Even Davos is on Renly's side, mistrusting Podrick and Jaime, and he still conceals his prejudice. Still, he tries to have the Lannister-loyal crew of the Castamere executed, and he should have done it had the Maid not stopped Davos from having all the Lannisterians on board killed.
For officers, like the knights of yore, have more noble feelings than mercenaries.
As for Renly and Brienne?
Though absence usually makes the heart grow fonder, in their case their relationship has cooled. Renly still loves Brienne as a friend, while she is now completely indifferent to his feelings.
Soon, their moment of failed intimacy is disrupted... as Pod pops up, nagging Renly to return to Highgarden... due to Pod's own awe-love for the Maid. With the Baratheon gone, he has intended to keep the Maid for himself:
"We Westerlanders are like the Westerland itself. Our lives are short, and we wish to die as quickly as possible. I feel so accursedly useless... so, when we're finished... may I return to my own homelands?"
Still, Brienne can feel in his words, in his checked tears, the passion that her fanboy feels. Unlike Renly, Pod shows signs of more intense emotions. So the Maid makes a promise that Podrick will return to the Westerlands to seek his own fortune once more.
Renly and Brienne look like the couple on a bridal cake, as they lounge in the hall, and as they salute and review the crew of the Castamere. Both are smiling faintly, yet detached from the rest of the world and from each other.
And Tywin's Pride is closing in on the Castamere...

In her own room, Brienne finds a delicate, soft gown of pink silk brocade, with lace at the ends of the puffy sleeves, with slippers and a parure to match. Now all dressed up, she makes everyone on board feel enthusiastic (though she merely dressed up to impress Renly!).
All seems to be going well for our heroes...
Then Nym comes rushing into the officers' hall:
"The Lannisters! They're after us!" She's seen a Lannisterian airship, a warship larger than the Castamere, closing in...
("The Rains of Castamere" is playing in the background)
A cannon shot fired from the Pride hits the hull of the Castamere, and the Lannisterians soon crush the windows and storm the warship before them.
A great battle ensues. On both sides, everyone fights passionately.
When a gunshot is fired at Brienne's heart, Renly quickly leaps before her and the bullet pierces his left breast.
Time stops. Everyone on the Maid's side is shocked: Davos, Obara, Nym, Tyene, Pod... the Maid herself, the most. She cradles Renly in her arms, as the young commander says in a faint voice, with blood on his lips:
"It's only a flesh wound... cough! Don't worry, Brienne... cough! Shot here in the chest... cough! I'll be fine..."
Then, turning pale, he loses consciousness.
The Maid and her crew are taken prisoner alive, then shuttled on board Tywin's Pride.
The unfortunate commander has not awakened yet. Pale and cold, eyes still shut, he ostensibly shows no signs of life.
And Brienne is astonished to find Loras Tyrell, still in gold and red, as an officer on board...

Though she is a prisoner, Brienne is waited upon hand and foot in her elegant new quarters, and treated as a celebrity on board.
Qyburn, the Lannisters' personal surgeon, is tending to Renly's wounds as if the commander were a son of his, with Tyene by his side for an assistant.
Yet the Maid soon eavesdrops a conversation between the Dornish healer and an officer she recognizes as Tyrell:
"We're losing him. The bullet can't be removed, and that lump of lead has damaged vital points..."
"One of his lungs?"
"The left lung, to be more precise."
"Will he...?"
"A sword thrust would have been less lethal."
"Anyway, Lady Lannister is no longer interested in Renly Baratheon."
Then, as soon as he has the chance, Loras has a talk with Brienne, just the two of them, to warn her of the threat awaiting her at Casterly Rock, and to inform her of the commander's state of health:
"Is he fatally injured?"
"Not fatally, but severely injured; and I don't know whether he shall live or die. You see why I prefer cold steel, for hot lead shatters upon striking bones. So the bullet has struck some ribs of his, and thus shattered in there."
The Maid sheds a few tears.
"I beg, please let those lovely blue eyes to stop crying. I haven't heard our surgeon or Tyene say he's fated. I've seen our dear Renly wounded more than once during the war, and he gets through it as if he never had been injured or febrile."
"Maybe you're right. So, you wish... honestly... to save us all?"
"Should I save your life, I expose myself to important risks, given my recent change of allegiance."
"That's right."
"I have the right to demand a reward in exchange for the risks I am taking."
"And I am wealthy enough to pay that price. What is it you want?"
"I only wish for... you. Your freedom..."
"As your servant?"
"Indeed..."
Then, Loras gives Brienne an offer worth thinking about: Renly's freedom in exchange for her own. Renly and Loras together as partners, and Brienne as their maidservant.
She can only ask the reason why, and Loras responds:
"I love you and I hate you too... I have looked upon you in awe. You're daring and true, yet your sword brought mine to the ground. And you caught Renly's attention. Defeat and jealousy. That's why I hate you... yet I still admire your bravery and honesty. If you accept this offer, Tywin's Pride will fall in flames tonight. Do you?"
"I do. Renly Baratheon is dying, and everyone must save his life. Do you swear?"
The offer is accepted.

In the meantime, Yara, Pod, and Nym steal some explosives on board the warship to make their impressive firework display. Davos had told them about the plan to set the Pride on fire with an explosion to remember.
It was Nym who escaped first from her confinement quarters, before freeing the boy and the Ironborn, who assist her in the explosive heist. More Lannister uniforms (dressing as the enemy again) are key to their success.

The next day, at the crack of dawn, Brienne is woken up by a Lannister officer, who guides her to the infirmary, where Renly is twitching and crying, as Qyburn is still trying in vain to remove the bullet from his chest, and Tyene is still giving him poppy-laced firewater as a painkiller to drink.
"Casterly Rock is not yet in sight. We'll arrive tomorrow morning."
"It's for Lord Baratheon's state of health that I care and inquire."
"His fate still hangs in the balance. The bullet is lodged inside his chest, and it can't be removed."
"Thus, he will die..."
"When I was young Baratheon's age, I got a bullet in my own right side, during one confrontation. They couldn't remove it, yet I'm still here, alive and kicking. And when the Stranger comes, it will be violently and quickly, and I will greet that second like a good friend."
"There is still hope..."
"His state of health is not that good. That kind of injury is always serious, and it won't heal easily."
She'll spend the whole day in the infirmary, until dusk, and even into midnight.
Soon she is standing next to Qyburn, Renly in bed before them. The wounded commander appears to be fast asleep, still lilywhite and in a cold sweat, with bluish-purple dark circles around his eyes. Every time he difficultly breathes, something rattles inside his chest, and one can also hear the muffled gurgle of blood gushing out of a ruptured vessel in there. He appears to suffer searing pain, and his heartbeat has become a faint flutter.
"Will he..."
"Do not despair so far", Tyene reassures the Maid.
"Then, will he heal?"
The Lannister surgeon replies thus:
"The Crone knows. And the Stranger, perchance."
"You should know that yourself."
"Praise the Gods."
"Renly... RENLY!!", Brienne bursts into tears.
The wounded warrior's eyelids flicker, and there are twinkles of joy in both his eyes. For a few seconds, his face blushes quickly, then turns pale again.
"Brienne... you... cough! I... this shot... this gunshot... cough!" he whispers in pain, coughing up blood... then Tyene and Qyburn put fingers on his lips.
"Hush! Don't say a word. Your wounds are serious..."
"You'll save his life, won't you?"
"Indeed", the chainless maester replies. "This gentleman will not die."
The pale Baratheon looks at the Maid with a lovely smile, as he tries to stifle a groan of searing pain. As he is about to open his lips, the surgeon intervenes once more. Even Tyene. She's the one to chide Renly this time:
"Hush! Don't speak! Or do you want to kill yourself?"
"No, Renly, don't say a word." Brienne now intervenes. "This is for you to heal..."
He doesn't say a word, he just takes the Maid's hand with all strength he has left.
"No..." Renly whispers. "No... cough! I don't want to..."
He closes his eyes for a little while, then opens them to exchange glances with the Maid.
"Love me... sigh... cough! You... sigh... love me... cough! Death is... near... sigh! cough! Yet we... have... sigh... each other! cough! Like in those... cough... days!"
"For the third time: Don't speak", the chainless maester warns his patient. "I am responsible for your healing. Should I fail, the Lannisters..."
"FIRE!!" the guards roar as they rush into the infirmary.
There's a commotion to be reckoned with on Tywin's Pride. The officers take to the lifepods, out of which Davos and Yara have already claimed two. Renly, Brienne, and Pod are trapped in the infirmary, and Loras is there as well, having informed the crew that he would be "tending to Lord Baratheon and the Maid of Tarth."
In the midst of the circle of flames, Podrick carries an half-unconscious and suffocating Brienne, and Qyburn carries Tyene, out to the lifepod, having entrusted the care of Renly to Loras Tyrell. The defector holds the dying commander's body in his arms, cradled like he had been cradled by the Maid before, as he climbs up the stairs to the lifepods.
Then, as soon as the Maid of Tarth and her assistant are out of sight, Loras sheds a few tears as he whispers in his dying charge's ear:
"Pardon me, Renly. But... if I can't have you at all, then...", and then, a wounded Renly Baratheon is tossed, by the one he once loved the most, into the expanding fireball above.
Then, young Tyrell runs off towards the lifepod. As soon as Brienne sees his fine features against the all-lighting firelight, her eyes twinkle and she feels that something has happened.
"And Renly?"
"There was an accident."
"Gods! What ever happened?"
"We stumbled on something hard and fell over, he on top of me... and then, as I clung to the floor, he was suddenly tossed out of my arms and upward, into the blazing firelight."
"Then... he is dead!!", the Maid falls unconscious into Obara's arms. The Dornishwoman reacts by calling:
"Lieutenant... Now she's dying as well!"
"She's merely fainted", Davos replies from the other lifepod. Then, he turns towards Loras to interrogate him.
"So... Lieutenant... where did you leave your commander?"
"He had been entrusted to me. I even had the surgeon, that maester without the chain, spare half a lifepod for Lord Baratheon."
"Why did you leave him?"
"We were running off towards the stairs. I stumbled on a stair step, and we fell, and I fell forward as he slipped from my grasp. You're an old crewman, seen this kind of accidents before..."
"What should you have done?"
"It seems that you're interrogating me as if you had become an inquisitor. Or one of those red-clothed Lord of Light clerics."
"I only want to know the circumstances around the disappearance of Renly Baratheon."
"I've already told you... I remember the surgeon saying from upstairs: 'Keep the wounded one alive! He belongs to Her Ladyship!'"
"Should I really believe you?"
"Should there be no soot on this uniform of mine? And... what if Lord Renly had been killed?"
"I will find the ones who did it, and they'll have to deal with me. I've seen better years, yet even a sod like me can pluck a Highgarden rose."
Pretty soon, Lannister officers join Loras around the campfire, improvised in a wasteland on the coast of the Reach. They decide to encamp and then send one of the lifepods to Casterly Rock for reinforcements.
In the meantime, the other lifepod is heading straight for the Lannisters' seat. On board are Brienne, Pod, and Yara Greyjoy, prisoners of a Lannisterian detachment all three...

"Off with her head! I want it on a pike!"
Since her "Etienne" betrayed her, Cersei Lannister is furious. The Maid of Tarth is destined to share the fate of Jaime Lannister.
"You shattered my heart...! My reflection, the better and immortal half of me...! Do you love this trickster? Have you sent her to me??"
She's no longer Lady Lannister, just a spoiled child with a broken heart. And she's just dying to set the record straight.
So, she tries to capture her twin brother once more... but Jaime manages to escape the Lannister camp where he was tied up, with the aid of Davos, Obara, and the others we had left by the campfire. With the loyalists and a Tyrell constantly on their heels, the persecution of the Black Betha by the recaptured Castamere culminates at Casterly Rock. There will be many loose ends to wrap up...
The turncoat, regretting what he has done, confesses:
"I killed Renly!! I did it for you...!! But now it's clear... Take my life if you please!"
And the Maid of Tarth takes up this challenge to a duel.
So, Loras Tyrell and Brienne have their swordfight, a confrontation that ends with the young Tyrell slashed in the left side with his opponent's sword. Feeling his strength fail, before dying, he takes up a pistol from his belt and targets the Maid... but, faint with blood loss, he misses... and Pod falls with a wound in the middle of his chest. The boy soldier's last words are addressed to his commanding officer:
"Farewell, Brienne. Saving you, I die happy." Then, he closes his sparkling eyes forever.
She kisses his cold, pale cheeks after he has uttered these last words. The Maid herself is wounded. Her opponent, Lady Lannister, has fled to the Dornish court for asylum. Jaime arrives to find the Maid lying unconscious and pale on a couch. They hasten to take her out of the Lannister residence, lest they should be discovered.

In a clifftop cave near Casterly Rock, the heist team reassembles, with the marked absence of Renly and Loras (and that of Pod). Brienne is still recovering from her wounds, tended to by both Tyene and Qyburn. Jaime and his mercenaries stand guard outside, ready to strike should the enemy appear. They take turns, Jaime usually sleeps next to Brienne, and it's plain that these two are actually meant for each other.
One day at the crack of dawn, a rider in gold and red shows up, asking for one Jaime Lannister. Obara leads him into the presence of the one he asked for, as the golden-haired officer wakes up, to receive a sealed letter, in an envelope with the Lannister seal...
("The Rains of Castamere" is playing in the background)
The letter, the messenger said, was from "Our Lord Tywin Lannister." Now, this messenger has galloped away. Brienne woke up when Jaime was given the letter.
"What can this mean... Jaime?"
"I must read this..."
The envelope contains a thousand-dragon banknote and a golden uniform braid, aside from the letter. Jaime and Brienne huddle close together. There are only a few words, a mere sentence, on the letter:
THE LANNISTERS SEND THEIR REGARDS.
In other words, the content of the letters means that Jaime is now officially disinherited and declared persona non grata in all the Lannister lands and outposts... for good.
He can't say a word. His Maid, however, finds the courage to speak:
"What will you do now?"
"Life is too sunny with you... for me to care about them. I reject my allegiance... to embrace yours instead. Lead me to Tarth, Brienne... you know yourself... how much I love you."
The Maid, now recovered from her wounds (both of the flesh and heart), and her true love get on the Black Betha, which Davos had arrived at Casterly Rock on. The old captain can't believe that the fair-haired swordswoman he met not long ago has found true love at last.
"Should we set course for...?"
"Tarth", she confidently replies.
So off they're headed for the Sapphire Isle, as, right before the eyes of the other survivors, the green-eyed outcast and the freckled maiden embrace... and they share a long, passionate kiss.

And thus, upon their brand new life's first day,
to Brienne, Jaime, fond farewell we say,
and wend, from Westeros, back to our world, our way.