Nsongo is the twin sister and constant companion of Lianja, born with him from their mother Mbombe and described as shining like the sun. In the epic she is at once his sister, his consort and his counsellor, a co-leader of the migration who repeatedly urges reconciliation and peace amid the conflicts the people face, for instance with the malevolent Sau-Sau. So central is she that the epic itself is named jointly after the pair, Nsong'a Lianja. Modern scholarship treats her, alongside her mother Mbombe, as a principal carrier of the heroic feminine in the African epic tradition.