Disclaimer – This fanfiction was not written by me; it belongs to the user William Dellinger on alternatehistory, by publishing it here I only intend to bring it to a wider audience and make it available for offline reading. I do not claim any ownership of the content.

Intermission: Romeo & Juliet/Brynden & Alysanne

For those interested, this is how Brynden & Alysanne shapes up as a Westerosi Romeo & Juliet.

The Ruling House

Prince Tristifer (Prince Escalus) III is the ruling Prince of the Rivers and Hills

Lord Edmure (Count Paris) is a kinsman of Tristifer who wishes to marry Alysanne

Ser Roderick (Mercutio) is another kinsman of Tristifer, a friend of Brynden

House Bracken (Capulet)

Lord Bracken (Capulet) is the patriarch of the House Bracken

Lady Bracken (Lady Capulet) is the matriarch of the House Bracken

Alysanne (Juliet) is the 13-year-old daughter of Bracken, the play's female protagonist

Willas (Tybalt) is a cousin of Juliet, the nephew of Lady Bracken

The Septa (The Nurse) is Juliet's personal attendant and confidante

Rosamund (Rosaline) is Lord Bracken's niece, Brynden's love in the beginning of the story

Peter, Sampson, and Gregory are servants of the Bracken household

House Blackwood (Montague)

Lord Blackwood (Montague) is the patriarch of House Blackwood

Lady Blackwood (Lady Montague) is the matriarch of House Blackwood

Brynden (Romeo) is the son of Lord Blackwood, the play's male protagonist

Benjicot (Benvolio) is Brynden's cousin and best friend

Abram and Balthasar are servants of the Blackwood household

Others

Maester Laurence is a maester and Brynden's confidante

Maester John is sent to deliver Maester Laurence's letter to Brynden

A woods witch (apothecary) who reluctantly sells Brynden poison

A Chorus reads a prologue to each of the first two acts

Plot:

The play, set in the Riverlands, begins with a street brawl between Blackwood and Bracken servants who, like their masters, are sworn enemies. Prince Tristifer of Oldstones intervenes and declares that further breach of the peace will be punishable by death. Later, Lord Edmure talks to Bracken about marrying his daughter Alysanne, but Bracken asks Edmure to wait another two years and invites him to attend a planned Bracken ball. Lady Bracken and Alysanne's septa try to persuade Alysanne to accept Edmure's courtship.

Meanwhile, Benjicot talks with his cousin Brynden, Blackwood's son, about Brynden's recent depression. Benjicot discovers that it stems from unrequited infatuation for a girl named Rosamund, one of Bracken's nieces. Persuaded by Benjicot and Roderick, Brynden attends the ball at the Bracken hall in hopes of meeting Rosamund. However, Brynden instead meets and falls in love with Alysanne. Alysanne's cousin, Wllias, is enraged at Brynden for sneaking into the ball, but is only stopped from killing Brynden by Alysanne's father, who doesn't wish to shed blood in his house. After the ball, in what is now called the "balcony scene," Brynden sneaks into the Bracken orchard and overhears Alysanne at her window vowing her love to him in spite of her family's hatred of the Blackwoods. Brynden makes himself known to her and they agree to be married. With the help of Maester Laurence, who hopes to reconcile the two families through their children's union, they are secretly married the next day.

Willas, meanwhile, still incensed that Brynden had sneaked into the Bracken ball, challenges him to single combat. Brynden, now considering Willas his kinsman, refuses to fight. Roderick is offended by Willas' insolence, as well as Brynden's "vile submission," and accepts the challenge on Brynden's behalf. Roderick is fatally wounded when Brynden attempts to break up the fight. Grief-stricken and wracked with guilt, Brynden confronts and slays Willas.

Blackwood argues that Brynden has justly executed Willas for the murder of Roderick. The Prince, now having lost a kinsman in the warring families' feud, exiles Brynden from the Riverlands, under penalty of death if he ever returns. Romeo secretly spends the night in Alysanne's chamber, where they consummate their marriage. Bracken, misinterpreting Alysanne's grief, agrees to marry her to Lord Edmure and threatens to disown her when she refuses to become Edmure's "joyful bride." When she then pleads for the marriage to be delayed, her mother rejects her.

Alysanne visits Maester Laurence for help, and he offers her a potion that will put her into a deathlike coma for "two and forty hours." The Maester promises to send a messenger to inform Brynden of the plan, so that he can rejoin her when she awakens. On the night before the wedding, she takes the drug and, when discovered apparently dead, she is laid in the family crypt.

The messenger, however, does not reach Brynden and, instead, Brynden learns of Alysanne's apparent death from his servant Balthasar. Heartbroken, Brynden buys poison from a woods witch and goes to the Bracken crypt. He encounters Edmure who has come to mourn Alysanne privately. Believing Brynden to be a vandal, Edmure confronts him and, in the ensuing battle, Brynden kills Paris. Still believing Alysanne to be dead, he drinks the poison. Alysanne then awakens and, finding Brynden dead, stabs herself with his dagger. The feuding families and the Prince meet at the tomb to find all three dead. Maester Laurence recounts the story of the two "star-cross'd lovers." The families are reconciled by their children's deaths and agree to end their violent feud. The play ends with the Prince's elegy for the lovers: "For never was a story of more misfortune/Than this of Brynden Blackwood and his Alysanne."