Morningside Cuesta the betrayer

The hooded child was convinced that this pale female knew where Ephraim was. He looked at her, wondering how she could have happened upon him. There was a mixture of distrust and a hint of marveling as he stared upon the woman. Her voice struck him, and he canted his head a bit to the side. She wanted to know why he was all alone; the answer was simple enough, but Illidan didn’t know if he wanted her to be made aware of why he was without his parents or his siblings. There was a part of him that didn’t even know why he had gotten lost from them either.
 
“Ephraim gone…” the boy said in a saddened voice. It was as though that would explain away all of the reasons for him having been out there without supervision. Illidan was still angry, still confused as to where his sandy brother had wandered off to. The dangers of the world were still foreign to him; he knew only the dangers of the bear that had driven them from the grotto. It was confusing to him to try to wrap his mind around the prospect that his parents were frantic in their search for his brother because the world was not kind to the youthful.
 
The pallid female suggested that Illidan was to go with her. He looked at the bird first, then to the strange woman. The boy breathed deeply, hoping that he would be able to find his brother if he agreed to this. He was banking on the chance that this woman would know where to locate his littermate. It was with a silent agreement that the hooded pup nodded his head once and gazed at her expectantly.