This always struck me as something akin to a rite of passage explained in Guy Gavriel Kays 'The Fionavaar Trilogy'.
Where youngsters had to spend a night alone in the woods to find their spirit animal.
Or at least that was what the youngsters believed. In actuality the tribe sent out protectors who kept themselves hidden from the youngsters but were there solely to make sure the kids were safe, something that only leadership knew and wouldn't have been known even to the parents. It was to test their training and their ability to keep themselves hidden from danger if it could be avoided. Knowing that someone was lurking to help them if needed would have trivialised the entire ritual.
I have no idea why but I always felt this was similar but that the Sharrans hunting for children had killed any guardians.
Might be wishful thinking but to me that would at least make some kind of sense.
