Bran, 1083 to 1086

Hungary, a barbarian kingdom which thinks too highly of itself, its crude language is only matched by its equally crude table manners. Their women have loose morals, wearing tight dresses and leaving their hair exposed for all to see; even the so-called noble ladies share all their meals with the men and travel the streets whenever it fancies them, forsaking their dominance over the household. Their leaders are uneducated, hunting in the hemera and reveling in the hespera, most of them shirking from the duties of their station. As for their rites, they are uninspired, riddled with mistakes and uttered in that barbaric tongue, latin. Their architecture reveals their innate insecurities, with their narrow roads, small houses and tight rooms; only those who fear their enemies, be they spies, assasins or invading armies, would confine themselves to such a restrictive environment.

- Hungary: Politics and Culture by Anna Komnenos

The sun still dominated the afternoon sky when the princess' carriage arrived at the castle of Bran. In a short amount of time she was through the gates and then was lead to the inner courtyard of the castle proper. There she found a small procession waiting for her, nobles she presumed by their attire. As she stepped out of the carriage they each gave a curt bow before the lord of Bran made himself known. He was not a tall man, for he barely surpassed her own height, and had a stocky build. His receding hair was black, turning to grey, as was his ample mustache. His small beady brown eyes shone with an inexplicable intensity. A translator had accompanied Anna to facilitate communication.

"I bid you welcome to Bran, princess."

Anna nodded and smiled at the reaction of the assembled men. They had expected her to be richly dressed in an effort to impress, instead she had emerged with plain traveling clothes and it seemed her veil had also taken them offguard. Vainly, they tried to peer at her features, but only met her determined and demanding eyes. With this arrival, she had showed them they were not worthy enough for her to take her time grooming herself properly. She would reserve that for the King.

"I take it you have arranged a suite for me?"

It was the man's turn to nod politely.

"Very well, you may take me there." With those words she signaled her escorts to follow her with the luggage.

The assembled men were shocked she hadn't even acknowledged them and yet found themselve cowed by her strong presence, none of them protested when she was led away by the lord of Bran himself. As she made her way through the castle with him she probed him with questions.

"When will your King see me?"

Her host smiled faintly. "My lord the King is a very busy man, at the moment he is campaining against some rebels who have forsworn their allegiance to the crown. He will meet with you as soon as possible, my lady."

She gave a few short nods, chiding herself silently. "Of course, it is still campaigning season. I should expect him in the following months then?."

The man waited they had passed nearby servants before replying. "That sounds, plausible."
She had little time to reflect upon that choice of words, for they had arrived at her suite. At first she thought this was some sort of jest. The two rooms combined were smaller than her bedroom in the Imperial Palace, with floors and walls in rough stones covered by a few rugs. They had omitted to even give her a desk and a small cot in the waiting room seemed to have been placed for her confidante. She was about to complain, but her host gave her a proud smile, indicating he thought only the best of these accomodations. She took little time in settling herself in the cramped suite and immediately turned her thoughts to what she would do to occupy her time in the coming months.

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Weeks turned into months and still there was no audience in a foreseeable future. Instead I spent my days in my room or in the company of Lord Miklos. In my first week, I scored a victory securing myself a desk. At first, Miklos seemed bemused as to why I would need one, until I pointed out that I needed to write letters in order to keep my father appraised of the situation. At once he congradulated me on being able to write, apparently very few women of high rank know how to write in this barbarian kingdom. Now at least, I can spend my day writing instead of wandering in the castle's dreary hallways. I also find myself wishing I had come here more prepared, while bringing texts and book would have been useful, a fork would have been a far more important item. Not only do we feast on peasant fare in most hespera meals, but I had no choice other than to demean myself by eating with my hands. Need I mention I could not find one single piece of interesting literature in the whole of Bran? And that was not for lack of trying. Truly, I have breached the frontier of the civilised world.

- Memoirs of Anna Komnenos

Anna had taken to wearing relatively plain clothes until she would meet the King, besides, since she lived in what amounted in her opinion to servant's quarters, she might as well dress as one of them. By now, most of the nobles thought her a simple and pious woman, for she prayed frequently, and somewhat naive. She saw no reason to change their erroneous perceptions of her person. She smiled warmly as she entered the study of Lord Miklos and he returned the smile, as it was customary. Inevitably, she asked the same question she had the previous morning and all of the mornings in the past month.

"Lord Miklos, do you have any news of the King?"

With a well rehersed sigh, Miklos responded, as always.

"No, my lady, I have heard nothing of him yet. Perhaps tomorrow..."

This time Anna had enough, she refused to spend another worthless day. Yet, she strived to keep an unintelligent facade to make those barbarians overconfident. She would have to lead him where she wanted.

"I tire of waiting, unable to accomplish the mission my father gave me, perhaps we could do something in the absence of the King?"

Miklos sat thoughtful for a few moments, before rising. "My lady, we cannot proceed without the King, I do not have the authority to make any official arrangements."

Anna nodded slightly. "Yes, I know, but can't we do anything? Could we not make preperations?"

Again Miklos appeared thoughtfull, he seemed to be getting what she hinted at. "We could... possibly... make a draft of a proposition?"

The princess beamed. "That is a wonderful idea! Let us get to it immediately then."

Pulling a quill from her belt pouch, she took sheets of paper from his deak and asked him for ink. It took a moment for Miklos to react before complying and before long they got to work on a proposal to the King of Hungary. Quickly, Anna took back a more submissive role, letting him take the lead in the negociations, or so he thought.

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More than two years passed before I had the opportunity of meeting the King of Hungary. In that time I mastered their language, with help of my translator, and continued writing. Lord Miklos took great interest in me during my prolonged stay and as he fashioned himself a scholar, he took it upon himself to teach me his knowledge for he thought me smart enough for a woman. He did not realise I already knew most of what he tried to teach me, and more, for I indulged him to keep appearances. I often thought back to my tutor as a young child and tried to recall the questions I had asked then. When I realised he was glad to answer each of them, I redoubled my efforts to ask more of them. It didn't take long before he introduced me to his wife, a young woman a few springs older than I. Apparently it was his third and I omitted to mention he would surely be punished in the afterlife for such a crime, for diplomacy's sake of course. I was aggravated to discover she took a certain liking to me, taking me for her younger sister she recounted to me each piece of gossip she had heard. At first, I had hoped I would gain something from these conversations, but soon realised she knew only about minor lords or rich merchants. The amount of adultery going on, if her sayings were true, disgusted me profoundly. I had not thought the people at our borders to be so degenerate.

- Memoirs of Anna Komnenos

Anna walked slowly to the main hall of the castle, the King had finally come after almost three years of waiting and she would have him wait for her. This was a small revenge she would take and was also part of her strategy. The waiting would have unnerved a lesser person, but in Anna's case, it only sharpened her determination.

Once she had waited long enough, she entered the audience hall and keeping her eyes on the floor, she bowed deeply to the King of Hungary. Mutters circulated throughout the room and as she rose, she gazed upon her opponent in the upcoming negotiations. It took all of her self-control to repress the smile creeping on her face. The King was dressed in fine attire but she had completely overshadowed him. Her white silk robe was heavily embroidered with rich purple motifs and brocated with gold filigree. In addition, she had forgone the use of a veil, replacing it with a small golden crown studded with many large gems.

In the most humble voice she could muster she addressed the barbarian king in a flawless Magyar, to the surprise of all assembled.

"Your Majesty, I am Anna Komnenos, first daughter of the Basileus of the Roman Empire. I have come at my father's bidding and in his name to negotiate an agreement between our two people."

The flustered expression of the King was all she needed to see. Check she thought, referring to the game called chess.

The King took precious seconds to recover before attempting to take back the lead. "Erm... yes, I have read the draft of the proposal you established with Lord Miklos. It is acceptable, save for the omission of compensation. I do think 10 000 gold coins would do nicely."

Anna locked her eyes in his and gave a satisfied smile. "That is agreeable, but there is one small thing I wish to ask. » She waited for the King's face to light up with a radiant smile before continuing in a serious voice. « Will you pay us with solidus or your own currency?"

The King's face flushed as anger took over. "What do you mean? You could not have misunderstood me girl!"

The princess remained calm, to let emotions take over was a sure sign of defeat. The battle was over and that fool didn't even know it. Her tone became harder. "Tell me then, your Majesty, why should the Roman Empire compensate you for accepting our terms?"

Unable to keep his calm, the King rose and glared at her. "You came to us with this proposal, thus it is clear you are in need and are the weaker party in this discussion."

Anna permitted herself a faint smile, this was too easy. "The weaker party? The Roman Empire might not be what it once was, but it has been an established power for as long as history itself. On the other hand, you Kingdom has not even seen a whole century. You have no allies because all your neighbors look down on you, not so in the case of the Roman Empire, who comes to you as an equal. Furthermore, need I remind your Majesty that Constantinople is a center of trade and that while we can find other trading partners, you will find no other with such a trading center. By trading with the Roman Empire you will have access to goods from around the known world."

She let her words sink in, prefering not to pressure the King too much, he was already on the brink of being lost to her. To her relief, he sat down while considering what she had said. Finally, after a tense silence, he pronounced himself.

"You show much wisdom in your words and I will consider them. We will continue the negotiations tomorrow."

Anna simply bowed deeply once more, before taking her leave. Tomorrow, he would try to seize the advantage again but he would fail, she had broken his confidence in their first encounter and he would not recover before the treaty was signed. His greatest mistake had been giving her almost three full years to prepare for this single day.

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Glad the negotiations for the day were over, Anna returned to her suite. She was eager as ever to leave this uncivilised city that sorely lacked any kind of manner. As she entered in her bedroom, she was so caught up in her thoughts, Anna almost missed Verina quickly hiding a letter behind her back.

The princess tilted her head to the side, as if trying to see what was behind her servant.

"What are you hiding?" She asked curiously.

Verina shrugged somewhat nervously. "Its... nothing."

Anna laughed softly. "Come now Verina, we have no secrets, show me."

The older woman hesitated slightly before handing over the letter to Anna's waiting hand. Unfurlign it, she browsed through it, instantly recognizing it was addressed to her and came from another of her servants, Eudoxia. Anna never got a chance to actually read the letter for Verina immediately bowled into her, knocking the princess to the ground. Anna blinked repeatedly, trying to focus her vision. She felt oddly dizzy and lightheaded; a sharp pain emanating from the back of her head.

She barely got time to get back her bearings before the rough hands of her servant wrapped themselves around her small neck. In vain, she clawed at her confidante, seeking to release the tightening grip. A leisurely life of reading and writing had left Anna substantially physically weaker than her servant, and thus her struggle had little effect as she felt her consciousness slipping away.

In desperation, Anna groped for the small pouch at her waist and pulled out a letter opener. She stabbed wildly at her assailant with what little strength remained until the improvised blade dug into something. As the chokehold loosed, Anna's vision cleared in time to see Verina's smirk turn into a panicked shriek, the improvised weapon stuck in her left eye. By the time the princess had more or less regained her senses, Verina had already left the room in blind panic.

Anna rose slowly and her vision blurred again, pain lanced through her head and she stumbled forward, still trying to catch her breath. Advancing to the bed, she passed her hand through her hair and felt something wet. She stopped for a moment to look at her pearly white hand, it was sullied with blood. She only had time for a quizzical expression before collapsing on the bed.

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When she returned to the negotiations, Anna appeared unphased by the traumatic event that had nearly killed her. Nor did she seemed troubled to learn that Verina had died while trying to escape. In perfect control of her emotions, she finally arrived at an agreement with the King of Hungary on the following day. There would be no compensation, on either side, and already the King was taking to his newfound friendship with the Roman Empire.

Anna for her part made it no secret she was to leave in haste. She was more than ready to return home and put this unpleasantness behind her. It had only been two hours since the agreement had been finalised and already her carriage was speeding away from Bran, carrying back the disgruntled princess to the civilised world.