A greedy, corrupt politican named Darius managed to rig the elections and become the chancellor of Elmwood Keep. He lied to the people and was slowly taking funds from the city to pad his own wallet. Furthermore, there were no restriction on the number of terms a person could win. Darius had every intention of staying until there was not a copper left. Only a select few actually knew the truth about him. One of those people, a man by the name of Griffith, decided to take drastic measures to remove Darius from the office. Since Darius always surrounded himself with the Elmwood Keep army and his own personal guard, Griffith raised his own army with the intent of defeating Elmwood Keep's forces, killing Darius, then helping in the reconstruction. Alisha's family was caught in the crossfire of this conflict.

Griffith's forces had pushed through the defenses and were using fire to scatter the guards. Alisha's home was burnt to the ground and some less than ethical mercenaries under his command decided to kill her father and rape her mother. Alisha would have died too if a bard within the city hadn't cast an invisibilty spell on the both of them and spirited them away from the burning keep. Due to this event, Alisha has a great deal of respect for all bards and a mistrust of unknown men who refuse to show her their faces.

The bard, Carla Be'Tend, knew she couldn't leave Alisha alone in the wilderness. She could have chosen a region closer to the keep to leave Alisha but she thought it would be better if the young child was as far as away from it as possible. They traveled to Thesk where Carla managed to find a Shou couple who were willing to take Alisha in. The bard wished the child luck and went on her way.

Alisha's adoptive father, Shen Liao, was a strict but kind man. He ran a small martial arts dojo and taught many young boys the art of inner balance. It was his hope that the next generation would grow up with discipline and honor in their hearts. Although, he did teach Alisha how to act honorably as well as the spirit behind martial arts, he refused to teach her how to use her body as a weapon. Mingmei Liao, Shen's wife, tried her best to instill the ways of a proper Shou woman into Alisha but the child was far more interested Shen's noble dream and learning martial arts herself.

Many times, Alisha would sneak around the dojo when her father was training others. She would listen and watch from the shadows and then practice by herself. Usually, she managed to do this and not get caught. However, Shen did catch her eventually. He repeatedly scolded her and punished her by withholding meals. However, she continued to watch his lessons. Alisha even stepped out into the open expecting to punished. Due to Shen's punishment, she went without food for days. Mingmei pleaded with him to let her at least watch or else she might starve herself to death. Shen grew too worried about Alisha's health to let this continue, so he allowed her to watch.

However, Shen still refused to actually teach her anything and told his students that they would do grueling chores around the dojo if they aided her. Although he would never admit it, he was surprised at how quickly Alisha learned despite her lack of a real tutor. Finally, when she reached age 16, he reluctantly agreed to train her himself. Shen's desire to see a person reach their true potential grew stronger than his desire to protect his daughter from the evils of fighting. It was a very difficult process for Shen, since he found himself holding back against her.

At age 20, Alisha asked her father if she could journey to gain further enlightenment. Truthfully, she knew how difficult it was for her father to train her and she did not want to make him suffer through it. Shen happily gave her permission to travel but he secretly hoped she would be scared back into his loving arms and accept the role of a true Shounite woman leaving fighting to others.