Birchpool

**Birchpool** is a silver tom with a white chest and throat, almost black markings and aqua blue eyes.

Owned by Foxyrulz

## Life

### Kit

Birchkit was born to Icefur and a Cavernclan warrior named Timberwing. He was the second-born and weakest kit of the litter, and the only tom. From a young age he was known for being a mother's boy, very easily running for cover at the slightest conflict.

When he was very young, Icefur took her kits away from Cavernclan to search for her missing family. He never talks about the journey, but it can be assumed that it was long and difficult, considering the distance traveled by the original group of cats.

Upon finding Rowanclan, Birchkit and his family met two other Rowanclan kits, Hopekit and Wishkit, as well as a kittypet named Puff. The kits agreed to point the exhausted queen towards the camp in exchange for them not being told on for going out of camp.

He became close friends with the two she-cats, particularly Hopekit. He has a mighty interest in feathers, as well as herbs.

### Apprentice

Birchpaw became the third apprentice to Softfur, alongside Weedpaw and Raggedpaw. He had had an interest in herbs more than fighting, and always wanted to help his siblings. He got a lot of attention from Hopepaw, as she always got into scuffles with other cats or bramble bushes during her hunting patrols to have an excuse to visit him.

During his apprenticeship, he started experience feelings for Ashpaw. Both toms had a crush on the other, both too shy to express it. Ashpaw was kind to Birchpaw and they became fast friends, despite Hopepaw’s displeasure.

The dogs attacked Rowanclan and he was caught up in the chaos. Fleeing the camp with Softfur and her two kits, they ran into one of the dogs. Softfur fought the dog off so the apprentices could escape, but ended up being blinded and badly injured. Birchpaw did his best to stop the bleeding and dressed her wounds.

As they were sheltering in Stormclan his training was taken over by Stonewhisker. He became acquaintances with Mistypaw, Stonewhisker’s actual apprentice. They were both very naïve cats that only wanted to help others. During his first few days, everything was fine; he primarily stayed in the medicine cat den helping the injured and learning from his new mentor. Then he became the target of several cats.

Brackenpaw and his gang, Batpaw and Adderpaw, targeted him for being a small weak cat with a resistance for violence. He was mocked for trying to break up fights between them and Wishpaw and Hopepaw. Adderpaw was at least kind to him, if not a cat of many words. While the apprentices were primarily taunting and intimidating him, he had a more dangerous cat after him. Flintear, Brackenpaw's mentor, hated the medicine cat apprentice with a passion. He regularly made cold threats towards the silver cat, to the point where his friends were ready to attack the tom to protect him. Even when he apologized for something he didn’t know he did, the tom was still piling on the threats to kill him.

He became close friends with Adderpaw. The other tom would regularly help Birchpaw, protecting him even at the cost of being harmed by Brackenpaw. During one of the scuffles among the two clans, he shoved Birchpaw in the bramble wall of the nursery away from the slashing claws and teeth. One of the most notable things he did was save Birchpaw from an adder while the pair were out collecting poppy seeds. Adderpaw gave him the skin as a memento. What Birchpaw didn’t know was the strength of Adderpaw’s affection for him was way above friendship.

Ashpaw, meanwhile, had his attraction. He constantly received feathers from the tom and tucked them into his nest. It escalated to the point that if Birchpaw had a nightmare, he would crawl into Ashpaw’s nest for comfort. Hopepaw was angry with this, and tried to push herself between them and trying to intimidate Ashpaw into backing off. Of course, the tom didn’t, and Birchpaw was already enamored with him.

He was shocked by his sister Cloudwing’s decision to join Stormclan to be Brackenclaw’s mate. He tried to beg her to see reason, but was pushed back by Stormclan cats. Again, Flintear targeted the tom in aggression, but was stopped by his mother.

### Medicine Cat

Birchpaw received the name Birchpool for his gentle personality and silvery fur. He continued his relationship with Ashpaw, though in secret due to Whitestar’s insistence on the medicine cats not having mates. He was conflicted with them being together, not wanting to get in trouble for breaking the code. However, he continued to despite his fear, and the two became official mates.

Later on he saw his friend Adderpaw again when the tom snuck Fernheart and two of Cloudwing’s newborns out of Stormclan to keep them safe. He tried to talk to him again, but the other tom snubbed him, heartbroken that Birchpool ignored his feelings. Adderpaw left and Birchpool didn’t see him again until the Gathering battle.

During the gathering battle, where Brackenstar attacked the cats of Rowanclan, he watched the ginger tom crush Adderpaw’s skull on the High Rock. He cradled his dying friend in his paws until he passed on, then struggled to fight his way to the safety of the trees. Flintear attacked him in one of his many murder attempts, but Hopepaw saved him. Ashpaw’s brother, Shortpaw, also died in the assault. The two grieved together for a long time.

Birchpool was always awkward around his niece and nephew; he was the “weird medicine cat” to them. He still loved them and tried his best to get them to like him, showing them his feather collection and giving them honey and moss to play with. However, he had an aversion to Adderkit, seeing too much of his old friend in the young kit.

During the raid on Rowanclan, he got separated from the others. He had to climb a tree to escape the claws of the warriors chasing him. When he returned and heard that his mother was among those captured by Stormclan, he was devastated. He begged Whitestar to launch a rescue patrol for the captured cats, but was snapped at. This was about the time his mental health started taking a subtle decline.

He spotted Icefur a few moons later on a patrol with Flintear and Mistypaw. He was thrilled to see his mother, but she ran across the Thunderpath in her haste to be with him, nearly getting hit by a monster if she wasn’t shoved out of the way by the Stormclan deputy. He rushed to her side, but was terrified of Flintear attacking him. Luckily the tom was disinterested in him and more concerned about Mistypaw, who was starting to wander a little too close. Icefur recovered and went back with them, much to his dismay. He understood she didn’t want to leave the others, but he wanted his mother back.

He got his wish soon enough, as a few moons after that encounter the queens were returned. He was thrilled to see his sister and mother again, but shocked by the fact his mother was pregnant with Flintear’s kits. He also felt betrayed by the fact that she had willingly mated with him, despite his constant attempt on Birchpool’s life. However, he said nothing about it; he loved his mother too much, and his sister and grandmother were already ignoring her. He helped her kit soon after.

He soon started having nightmares in the Place of No Stars, being haunted by the ghost of Adderpaw. He was shocked that his friend was in there because of him, and was attacked by him repeatedly. His health took a massive decline after these dreams started, causing more and more cats, even Ashfleck, to start avoiding him. After Honeykit started visiting him he became obsessed with protecting the young cat from Adderpaw, though the dead tom meant no harm to the kit.

Before the Great War, Birchpool found out about Beetlekit and Hollykit, the two kits Ashfleck helped Peachpetal raise. He was heartbroken, as the kits looked close enough to his mate to pass as his kits. He pushed it away, to talk about later, and set to work healing the injured cats. Weedstem was killed in the battle, leaving him and Raggedheart, as well as their apprentice Adderpaw. After the battle Ashfleck explained the kits were not biologically his, but Birchpool was still hurt by not knowing.

When the fire started in Rowanclan territory, Birchpool rushed into the forest to save as many herbs as he could, as the supplies in Raven’s Camp were dwindling dangerously low. He had no idea the fire had been started by Flintear, nor did he see the tom in the forest before it was too late. He was hunted down and pinned by the tom, who had no intention of letting him live. He was saved by Stonewhisker and fled before the fire had completely surrounded them. The two toms were killed before he had made it back to camp.

Birchpool’s health, both mentally and physically dropped more and more rapidly after this event. He continued going to the Dark Forest more and more frequently, trying to beg forgiveness from Adderpaw. During one such visit, he burst into a fit of rage saying how he was going to end up just like his mother. He scared Honeypaw so badly that she ran into the forest and had an encounter with Oakfall, another Dark Forest tom.

The tom attacked Honeypaw and went after Birchpool, planning on killing him so Adderpaw would work for him. Adderpaw saved the pair by attacking the tom, but was badly injured. Birchpool made Honeypaw wake up before coming back for the dead tom. He comforted the injured tom, even though he was terrified. He returned the following night and cuddled with him, trying to repair their broken friendship. Unfortunately the other tom mistook this for a romantic approach, and was subsequently heartbroken when Birchpool refused to return his affections. This directly led to Adderpaw taking on the name Adderghost and joining Oakfall’s group.

Birchpool started hallucinating, seeing signs of danger when there wasn’t any. He continued defending his mother and Hopethorn’s actions, seeing them as the only family he had left. He got in massive trouble for trying to defend the two she-cats after they attacked Otterslash for refusing to let Icefur see her kits (something she was already banned from doing). He was put under den-arrest while Whitestar considered his punishment.

He wasn’t banished along with Hopethorn and Icefur, due to the fact they needed a medicine cat to finish Adderpaw’s training, as Weedstem was dead and Raggedheart was becoming weaker by the day. He was confined to his den for the entire banishment ceremony, coming out to see Hopethorn dead on the ground and his mother and Swiftkit gone forever.

### Elder

He was allowed to continue his medicine cat duties soon afterwards, but at this point no one trusted him enough to let him treat them. He decided the best course of action would be for him to retire from his position, much like his mentor had to. He had poor hunting and battle skills, so he went to the elder’s den instead. Not even a moon into his retirement he assaulted Adderfang, mistaking harmless berries as deathberries. He nearly choked the medicine cat by sticking his paws down his throat in his attempt to ‘save’ him.

## Trivia

- Birchpool is homosexual and has never had any romantic feelings for Hopethorn, despite her being so close to him.

- Birchpool's biggest fear is hurting cats like his mother and friend did, so he shuts himself away as much as possible

- He suffers from severe anxiety

- He wanted to have kits with Ashfleck, but fears he would harm the kits