During the reign of tsar Mstivlad, there lived a girl named Zoja in Kardomir. She was an orphan, both her parents having died in the iron mines, and was raised by the sages of her village. When tax collectors came to take everything from the village by order of the tsar, she led a rebellion against them. The village was victorious, however the kniaginia sent her soldiers to imprison the leader of the rebels, and she had to flee.
Zoja fled over the mountains to the eastern steppes, and lived with nomadic Jeremanians. When the Tulgarians attacked, she fought bravely at their side, getting renown as a great swordfighter.
When the Peoples Army reached the border of Jereman, she was there to greet the kniazi. A Kardomirian noble recognized her, and demanded that she should be imprisoned. Tsar Mstivlad agreed, being of poor judgement and bitter for the victory of the Peoples Army.
There was far to many soldiers and knights to fight and win, and Zoja prayed to Svarog for aid. Then the kniaz of Drevnedub, Bereslav the Big Nest came forth, and said that he would not have a hero of the war treated this way, and offered to her to become his daughter to be protected. This surprised both Zoja and tsar Mstivlad, for to take in a stranger as their son or daughter was unheard of for them, as it is only a Drevnedubian custom. Still, Zoja agreed, having no other choice. However the tsar still wanted her arrested.
Bereslav said then that no soldier or knight had the right to do so, and if the tsar would judge his newly made kin, she should have the same rights as the kniaz of Drevnedub himself, and that the tsar would then have to have a trial by combat with her. The tsar reluctantly agreed as the Peoples Army gathered around them. When the tsar wanted to name a champion for his side, kniaz Bereslav protested, saying that the champion would have to fight him and all his 12 sons before he would let him fight his new daughter. Zoja tried to protest, saying she feared no champion of the tsar. Still, the kniaz of Gradoslavl agreed with kniaz Berslav and insistet that the tsar should fight himself.
Tsar Mstivlad was no match in combat for Zoja, and after a quickly resolved fight had to depart in shame.
Prinsess Zoja visited Drevnedub several times, but elected to remain in Jereman, marrying a woman named Vlasa and settling down near the western mountains of Jereman