Ahlisa is a sohilda, an unusual position in Stahlish society. Her husband was one of Cahlan's best war-leaders, but was crippled in battle and declared jahron-ulvar, the living dead. As such, Ahlisa was granted some of the freedoms of an unmarried woman, along with some of the privileges of a wife. This allows her some leeway in how she acts around the tain and other high-ranking members of the tribe. Her father was a trader, and from him she inherited a gift for many languages.

Beautiful, in the wide-faced, dusky way of her people, Ahlias has feline eyes, long lashes, dark hair and a slim figure clad in a mish-mash of stolen silk and satin and velvet robes from the pillaging of Lothengard. She is intelligent, lusty and irreverent, with a firm view of the divide between women's work and men's business - she cares little for war, law and statecraft, but has a keen interest in customs, domestic politics and crafts.