Birchstar

Birchstar was the fourth leader of MoonClan, succeeding Maplestar, preceding Sunstar.

## Physical Description

### Namesakes

Prefix: Probably his fur color, even though ironically, birches are white with black spots, not brown.Suffix: He saved Whitestripe and Swanpaw from drowning in the Creek of Blood as an apprentice. (His father, the leader, also said that he could be named after Forestcreek, his uncle.)

## Family

### Sisters

Sealbranch, Sandleap, Hailstream, Rainstorm

## Education

### Apprentices

Dandelionflight, Honeymoon, Lightstorm, Sunstar (MC)

## Predecessors & Successors

He is known for finding and saving FlowerClan as a warrior & allying with them during his leadership, and for proposing the change of the time between Mountain Meetings from the Mountain Tribe 24 moons to 12, which made things much easier to communicate since the Mountain Clans barely interacted other than the Meetings anyways. He was also known for his generosity and curiosity towards everyone and everything, and he was known for keeping other's secrets diligently during his warriorhood, and he was an excellent deputy and leader. He also saved a lot of cats and helped Swanstream and Primrosestorm (his apprentice's sister) with their conditions, therefore making him remembered across generations, and new deputies and leaders looked up to him long after his death. He was able to become Dandelionflight's new mentor at a young age when her mentor (and Birchstar's sister and deputy) got killed in a battle, albeit it was sad for both of them.

He was also friendly to everyone, even the cats who were considered to be bad, like Stonetooth, but he understood her situation and saved her kits. He was also understanding of other cats and willing to help them, but at the same time, knew when to stand his ground against others and be firm. He had many friends in his life, and tried to be nice to them, such as Whitestripe, Primrosestorm, Shadowclaw, Mountainstream, Swanstream and especially his littermate whom he shared dreams with, Rainstorm, and make them go outside of their comfort zone, which is why everyone supported him as deputy when Maplestar ascended to leadership, and later, the leader.

After he became a leader, he chose Whitestripe as deputy as he knew the tabby tom was very good at controlling other cats and making clever decisions, while also being a good fighter, but he had Primrosestorm, Shadowclaw, Swanstream and Mountainstream in mind, too, but he didn't know if the she-cats would be accepted as deputy by other Clans. Later, Primrosestorm suggested that he could be mates with Swanstream, which he agreed with as he knew Swanstream from kithood.

He had a spiritual connection with his littermate, Rainstorm, and was able to share dreams from StarClan with her. Being a leader and Rainstorm being a medicine cat, they were able to share StarClan's prophecies together, and their connection to StarClan and each other overall was really strong.

In his kit and apprenticehood, he was mostly known for being the youngest kit of the second leader, Snowstar, and the youngest grandchild of the founder, Moonstar, and being a good friend to other kits and apprentices.

## Youth

He was born as Birchkit alongside his sister, Rainkit, to Petuniaheart and Snowpool of MoonClan. Their parents planned them to be their last litter. A quarter-moon later, Swankit and Vinekit were born to Goldenlily, however Vinekit was stillborn. Mountainkit was born to Flipsnow and Littleclaw, and Berrykit to Orchidmoon and Lionrain, however Lionrain died a quarter-moon after their birth.

Birchkit was mostly outgoing to other kits, and didn't spend much time outside except to go to the prey pile, until one day he got bored of watching kits play and went to the elders' den to listen to stories where Rainkit already was, and was told very interesting stories by his great-uncle, Wisdomheart, especially about his legend grandmother, Moonstar, and the Mountain Clans' history. (*Chapter 1: Nursery*)

He and Rainkit also became good friends with the three siblings Shadowkit, Icekit, and Swankit, and another single kit named Mountainkit. He learned from Wisdomheart and Pinetail that Swankit was mute, so she couldn't speak, but he never knew this fact before.

Later on, he learned about his grandmother's illness from his brother, Quailkit, and Swankit, and got very worried about her and the Clan. (*Chapter 2: Moonstar*) Then his worries were confirmed when the Battle of Moonstar's Death happened, and Moonstar got killed by Falconblue, the deputy, (who later got killed by other MoonClan warriors). His father, Snowpool, was chosen as the new leader, who chose his older sister Sealbranch. These incidents made him disoriented for a while. (*Chapter 3: AdderClan*)

Birchkit later made friends with Zebrapaw, his maternal cousin, after a small fight between them ensued. Primrosekit and Dandelionkit, of which the former was reflexively disabled, were born nearly right after this fight. (*Chapter 4: Zebrapaw & Stonepaw*)

Birchkit was seen by Primrosekit playing with his friends, Shadowpaw, Zebrapaw, Rainkit, Swankit and Mountainkit, while she was in the nursery and got jealous of them, and they were seen afterwards looking strangely at her, but it was because they were shocked that it had happened. (*Chapter 5: Primrosekit & Dandelionkit*) The next day, he tried to check up on Primrosekit after her fall off the cliff of the Creek of Blood, but saw that she was with Quailpaw. They didn't want to talk to him so he tried to see where Rainkit, Mountainkit and Swankit were from Shadowpaw, of which the apprentice said he didn't know where his sister, Swankit, was.

Birchkit looked all around camp for Swankit until he heard blowing and scratching noises, and found her trapped in a ditch right outside of camp. It turned out someone pushed her in there. She couldn't climb out, so he got his father, Snowstar, to try and get her out, but it was too steep even for *him.* Then a hawk came and nearly snatched Swankit away until Snowstar scratched the hawk and caught her, and got her back to camp.

Snowstar told everyone Birchkit saved Swankit, and Goldenlily asked Swankit who pushed her in, to which she pointed at Stonepaw, Zebrapaw's littermate. Stonepaw got punishment for her actions and Birchkit got rewarded for finding Swankit. Swankit greatly admired Birchkit but greatly loathed Stonepaw after this. (*Chapter 6: Swankit & Stonepaw*)

Birchkit witnessed a fox come to MoonClan, but he didn't really do anything about it. However, he watched Zebrapaw and Swankit jump on the fox and get kicked off and bruised and accompanied them when they woke up. (*Chapter 7: The Fox*)

Later on, Rainkit and Primrosekit broke the news together to Birchkit that the former wanted to become a medicine cat, of which Birchkit was surprised about and didn't want to discuss anymore. But when by the time he was becoming an apprentice, he got over it. (*Chapter 8: Medicine Cat*)

At the sunrise of his ceremony, Birchkit chatted with Mountainkit about several things, including Quailpaw, Zebrapaw, Rainkit, and Primrosekit. He got apprenticed to Zebrapaw's mother and his uncle, Blazesky's mate, Peonyclaw, of which she was excited about since he was her first apprentice, and he was renamed Birchpaw. (*Chapter 9: Apprentice Ceremony*)

*See: Part 1: Little Birchkit's Life*

## Apprenticehood

### 6-10 moons

Since it was close to leaf-bare, Peonyclaw wanted to hunt first, so they went into the forest. He was thinking about Primrosekit and how she might struggle with speed, until he and Peonyclaw encountered a SnowClan cat, Whitelight, who came out of the bushes. Birchpaw was confused about how his mentor knew Whitelight, exactly, but Peonyclaw threatened him not to tell anyone.

He congratulated Rainpaw becoming an apprentice to Lilypool, and later did fighting training with Peonyclaw, while still thinking about Primrosekit. Then Birchpaw remembered Whitelight and asked Peonyclaw about her, of which she said Whitelight was her and Flipsnow's sister, and told him the story of how all three ran off to Clans, but Whitelight wanted to join her mate, Blackwater's Clan. She told him not to tell anyone about this, and Birchpaw understood, but he worried if anyone else was keeping secrets like Peonyclaw and Flipsnow were. This secret stayed with Birchpaw for a long time without him telling anyone, however, it troubled him at times, especially when the situation had to do with SnowClan, Peonyclaw and Whitelight. (*Chapter 10: SnowClan?*)

A quarter-moon later, Birchpaw watched Swankit, Mountainkit and Berrykit become apprentices to Nutclaw, Petuniaheart and Maplestripe (Primrosekit and Dandelionkit's father, Wisdomheart's son and Lilypool's brother) respectively. (*Chapter 11: Swanpaw, Mountainpaw & Berrypaw... Icepaw & Zebrapaw*)

Two moons later, he watched Flipsnow give birth to Lilackit and Jumpkit, but somehow it reminded him of Whitelight. (*Chapter 12: Love & Kits*)

A moon later, Sandleap, his sister and the middle littermate of Sealbranch and Hailstream, happened to be expecting the brother and littermate of Nutclaw, Nightnose's kits. He also witnessed Spottedpaw, previously Tina, join the Clan. (*Chapter 13: Sandleap, Flameeye & Tina*)

Two more moons later, Birchpaw discovered a dire secret Goldenlily was hiding. After she was finished talking to Watereye, her supposed mate, Birchpaw asked her if Watereye was the father, and Goldenlily faltered, but said yes, also admitting she was the mother of Nightnose and Nutclaw, Watereye's sons. However, Birchpaw pointed out that she would still have been an apprentice when she was giving birth to them if that were true, and Goldenlily faltered again. She admitted that a kittypet named Anna mothered Nightnose and Nutclaw. Finally she spilled the truth that a SnowClan cat named Swiftclaw was the father of all her kits. Birchpaw was very shocked at this, and felt as if the burden was dragging him down. He decided to change the subject to why Quailpaw and Swanpaw were born single and who Primrosekit's mentor would be. This secret stayed with Birchpaw, too, and it troubled him a lot when he figured out Swiftclaw's true identity. (*Chapter 14: Swiftclaw*)

Primrosekit and Dandelionkit later got apprenticed to Hailstream and Sealbranch, Birchpaw's older sisters, respectively. Birchpaw was one of the cats who watched them train. (*Chapter 15: Another Ceremony*)

### 10.5-13 moons (beginning of hardships)

A half-moon later, while he was sleeping, Stonepaw and Icepaw were both violently fighting about Zebrapaw, and their commotion was so loud it woke Peonyclaw and him up. Peonyclaw was reprimanding them both, even wanting punishment for both of them, but Birchpaw was more mild and told them to only kill each other when they were warriors and outside of camp, and if they were willing to break the warrior code. He went back to the apprentice's den afterwards. (*Chapter 16: Peaceful talk... Stonepaw & Icepaw's competition*)

The next day, Birchpaw and Mountainpaw talked about a lot of cats, including Honeyflight and Barktail (Mountainpaw's paternal grandparents), Stonepaw, Icepaw, Zebrapaw, Swanpaw, Flipsnow, Goldenlily, Applefall and Fireclaw (Zebrapaw's older brother) and Birchpaw learned that the latter two were expecting. Zebrapaw and Swanpaw happened to be eavesdropping on them while they were talking, but only Birchpaw noticed them from his angle, but he ignored them. While they were talking, however, they heard irregular screeching from the nursery. When they got there along with other cats, it seemed like Goldenlily was in immense pain. Blood came out of her kitting area and she bled to death, seeing her mother, Greenheart (and unbeknownst to the Clan, Lightkit). Mousekit and Petalkit were born alive with seemingly no complications, thankfully. But it took a long time for the Clan to recover, especially her father, Pinetail, kits, mate and Nightnose. (*Chapter 17: Finality*)

The next day after this happened, he talked to Watereye about Goldenlily, and tried to figure out if he knew about the secret of Swiftclaw. He wasn't sure how Goldenlily died, but he thought it may be because of Icemoon's punishment or mating outside of the Clan. Later on, he talked to Stonepaw who was completely numb to the event, and getting annoyed at her mentor, Nightnose, when he was mourning. Birchpaw tried to educate her about why the death was so terrible, and that she should be at least a little considerate of others. He even suggested that she should do some duties for the Clan so she can be appreciated that she was doing work while everyone else was mourning. Stonepaw agreed and wanted him to come on patrol with her. Birchpaw was skeptical since he remembered what happened to Swanpaw, so he brought along Primrosepaw who wasn't *that* much affected by the incident as other apprentices were. (*Chapter 18: The Sadness of MoonClan*)

Mountainpaw happened to join them just after they left, and Birchpaw and Primrosepaw were worried that Stonepaw might provoke Mountainpaw. Stonepaw accused Mountainpaw of being too loud and scaring all the prey away, until Primrosepaw suggested they go to Rabbit Residence. The other apprentices agreed and they went there. While hiding in the bushes to ambush the rabbits, they spotted a copper cat with green eyes running towards the border with another cat chasing her. When the chased cat crossed, Stonepaw threatened her with a hiss, and the cat tried to get them to listen to her.

The cat who was chasing her told her that was what she got for mating with a cat from another Clan, and that her kits were definitely half-SnowClan, which made Birchpaw and Mountainpaw get an idea.

The other three MoonClan apprentices came out of hiding and all four tried to question her about what was going on, and the cat, Begoniaclaw, tried to answer all of them (although half-honestly). She said that she was a nursing queen.

So Birchpaw and Mountainpaw asked her to come to MoonClan, and Primrosepaw and Stonepaw both agreed. The entire Clan was surprised at Begoniaclaw coming to the Clan since she was from AdderClan, but they figured she was fine since she wasn't that strong, anyways, and she had spilt most of AdderClan's secrets and took care of Mousekit and Petalkit well. (*Chapter 19: Mousekit & Begoniaclaw*)

Later on, Birchpaw shared an eagle with Swanpaw that Shadowpaw caught during his warrior exams. He witnessed Shadowpaw, Icepaw and Quailpaw became warriors the next day, Shadowclaw, Icemoon and Quailclaw. (*Chapter 21: Shadowclaw, Icemoon, Quailclaw, Robinpaw & Soarpaw*)

Some time afterwards, Birchpaw was talking with a few other cats, including the cats he found Begoniaclaw with, Stonepaw, Mountainpaw and Primrosepaw, when Zebrapaw suddenly came and told Snowstar about his fight with Windwing, the same cat they had seen chasing Begoniaclaw out. Birchpaw and the other cats were exceptionally worried and he said that AdderClan might be planning another raid, but Snowstar simply said that they should be on even more alert for AdderClan before MoonClan did anything drastic. (*Chapter 22: Zebrapaw's Warrior Name*)

Birchpaw later on decided to go to the nursery to listen to the queens tell stories, including Sandleap (*Chapter 23: Important Decisions*), and congratulated Primrosepaw for trying to learn medicine, but then Sandleap had suddenly gone into labor. Everyone in the Clan, including her mate, Nightnose, had immediately come and were immensely worried that something could go wrong just like it happened with Goldenlily, but much to everyone's relief, the birth was quick and smooth, and all three kits were alive. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the kits, Birdkit, Waterkit, and Flowerkit, until the Clan realized the first kit did not get up for several minutes, even after her littermates did, even though she was still alive. Rainpaw and Primrosepaw attempted to resuscitate her by licking her, and fortunately, Birdkit finally opened her eyes to everyone's luck. Birchpaw was silently grimacing at this unfortunate turn of events, that his own niece had a condition just like Swanpaw, Primrosepaw and Mousekit, and had to lean back against a wall in the den from all the stress. Finally, Birdkit managed to speak and get up, much to everyone's relief again, though everyone was still worried about her condition and what it could be. Birchpaw anxiously tried to ask his father, Snowstar, if this might be an ill omen, to which his father said it could have been, but he didn't know. (*Chapter 24: Sandleap's Kits*)

A few days later, it was discovered that Birdkit's processing time was behind a few whole seconds, which would be a total detriment to her warrior role since she would not be able to react in time to most situations, and she could only be a general medicine cat. Birchpaw was at the prey pile by himself until his mother, Petuniaheart, and her apprentice and his friend, Mountainpaw, came back after hunting. They talked about Petuniaheart's great mentoring skills for a moment until Mountainpaw decided to tell them something devastating about Mousekit, that she had mucus in her lungs which could be fatal. Petuniaheart and Birchpaw were both alarmed by this, though they had no idea what they could do about it since they had little knowledge of medicine. Then when Mountainpaw was bemoaning about Mousekit's condition, Shadowclaw and his former mentor and Birchpaw's father, Snowstar, came back and happened to eavedrop on him, and while Snowstar already knew, Shadowclaw was greatly shocked and started panicking. Then Rainpaw came out of the nursery for Lilypool to come, and Shadowclaw and Mountainpaw feared the worst, wishing StarClan not to do this to them, but Birchpaw said that StarClan couldn't be doing everything, and that it must be nature. He stayed outside of the nursery when they discovered Mousekit had suffocated to death. Unbeknowst to Shadowclaw and Mountainpaw, Birchpaw was also panicking about what had just happened just like Shadowclaw, Icemoon and Swanpaw. (*Chapter 25: Lack of Care*)

Birchpaw was seen a quarter-moon later by Shadowclaw, Zebrapaw and Primrosepaw after Birdkit had licked a deathberry and gotten resusciated sadly watching them, and soon later going on patrol with Peonyclaw. The three were very worried about what he might have been thinking, since it seemed like it was taking a toll on his mental health. (*Chapter 26: Birdkit's Problems*)

Another quarter-moon, Birchpaw watched Zebrapaw and Stonepaw become warriors, Whitestripe and Stonetooth, and listened to Peonyclaw, Shadowclaw, Mountainpaw, and Primrosepaw chat with Whitestripe, though he was still worrying about Swiftclaw and how he had to be grossly related to Goldenlily's death. Rather awkwardly, however, he mentioned Nightnose becoming a queen after Whitestripe mentioned that only queens usually rested, but he wasn't a she-cat, and the other cats nearly entered a downwards spiral at Birchpaw's words, which made him even more awkward and embarrassed than usual.

When Mountainpaw asked what he was thinking, and Birchpaw revealed that he was thinking about Swiftclaw against his better judgment, and much to everyone's shock. When Birchpaw revealed that he didn't know much about Swiftclaw, all the cats were shocked and confused that Birchpaw's mentor and Whitestripe's mother, Peonyclaw, had barely told him anything about SnowClan for six moons. Much to his surprise, Birchpaw learned that Swiftclaw was the brother and littermate of the unyielding and strict Briarstar and he supported her leadership wholeheartedly, which made Birchpaw even more nervous about the fate of Shadowclaw, Icemoon, Swanpaw and Petalkit, and a bit angry at Swiftclaw, too. He got even more embarrassed when Whitestripe started getting angry at Peonyclaw, especially when he still seemed to be stuck on the subject of Swiftclaw and was shocked yet again when Shadowclaw mentioned Blackwater, Whitelight's mate, supporting Briarstar, too. Some cats like Whitestripe were extremely confused about the dynamics between Peonyclaw and Birchpaw since they had never thought about it much before, thinking it might have been a normal MoonClan mentor-apprentice relationship, and also when Flipsnow joined the fray of mysteriousness.

After they had all calmed down, before going to the prey pile, Whitestripe silently asked Birchpaw how he knew about Swiftclaw if Peonyclaw never mentioned it to him, to which he lied that he heard it from someone else, which assauged Whitestripe's curiousity. (*Chapter 27: The Ceremony of New Names*)

A half-moon later, Birchpaw had been seen looking worried along with the other cats in the warriors' den after Stonetooth and Begoniaclaw were found to be missing, since he feared that his worries about Stonetooth defecting to AdderClan was true, and Whitestripe worried if he might have seen them leaving last night, though he reassured himself that Birchpaw probably wouldn't wake up for no reason. Birchpaw tried to ask Whitestripe more sensible questions while other Clanmates were simply expressing hatred of Stonetooth. When Whitestripe revealed the details, Birchpaw along with all the other cats were getting more and more shocked by the moment, especially when he revealed that they defected to AdderClan.

Birchpaw had stayed mostly silent when the chaotic argument ensued between Whitestripe and other cats who hated Stonetooth, but especially Peonyclaw, when the two got physical and nearly injured each other, and had to be pulled away by Snowstar, Forestcreek, Orchidmoon and Flipsnow. He also stayed silent, though immensely worried, when Peonyclaw yowled that she was going on patrol and told him he could stay at camp. (*Chapter 29: Anger at Loss of a MoonClan Warrior*)

A day later, he was thinking about several things that bothered him in the apprentice's den, especially about Stonetooth, Birdkit, Swiftclaw, Blackwater, Peonyclaw and Whitelight, including about why Peonyclaw told him about Whitelight even though Birchpaw and them weren't related by blood in any way.

Earlier in the day, Peonyclaw and him had encountered Whitelight while on patrol, and since Peonyclaw was still incensed about her daughter leaving Whitelight, she greeted her in a very hostile way, though Birchpaw gestured her to be quiet. Whitelight had confronted Peonyclaw about why she revealed to her apprentice about their secret as it would cause a lot of issues if it got out. Birchpaw wondered why Peonyclaw told Whitelight since they weren't in the same Clan unlike Flipsnow.

Peonyclaw had been vague about her reasoning, which prompted Whitelight to scold her further, to which Peonyclaw retorted that she was not a SnowClan member to threaten Clanmates into keeping secrets, and that she was worried that Birchpaw might have told the MoonClan leader that they were secretly friendly if she didn't tell him the truth, which both Whitelight and Birchpaw were surprised at, but the latter thought it made some sense since it was possible to misinterpret a situation like this. After a bit of argument, Whitelight revealed that Briarstar was acting even worse than last time, and not even the deputy, Honeywhisker, or medicine cats, Sparrowstem and Cloverheart, could do anything about it, and Blackwater wasn't listening to her. Before Peonyclaw could mock Whitelight for choosing the wrong decision about her mate, Birchpaw urgently told her to leave the scene to which she agreed, though she quit training afterwards.

In the present, Goldenlily's three older children, his littermate and Mountainpaw and Dandelionpaw all entered the den, and they anxiously asked him if Peonyclaw did anything out of the ordinary, to which Birchpaw simply replied that she was too distracted to focus, and they instantly believed him. They discussed about why the incident happened yesterday since it was quite unlike Peonyclaw and Whitestripe, especially Shadowclaw and Icemoon who seemed to have a hard time believing Whitestripe could ever act like such. They also discussed about what they could have done about Stonetooth to prevent her from becoming like this and defecting to AdderClan. Birchpaw became inquisitive about what Whitestripe and Stonetooth acted like as kits since that would explain more details, and asked Shadowclaw and Icemoon about it since they were one moon older, and therefore would know more about it.

Shadowclaw explained that they were the only kits in the nursery when they were born so they were bored until Quailclaw was born, but the excitement only lasted a while as they wanted more friends and were extremely disappointed that Whitestripe and Stonetooth didn't even want to talk to them and even acted hostile to them and everyone else except for each other and Peonyclaw. He also expressed gratitude for Rainpaw and Birchpaw being born since they wanted to play, and also Swanpaw and later Mountainpaw. After some more discussion and coming to the conclusion that Whitestripe probably cared about Stonetooth because they were the closest to each other in kithood, Swanpaw distracted them by pointing out that Rainpaw, Birchpaw, Mountainpaw and herself were also good friends from kithood, which also made it more lighthearted.

Birchpaw tried to ask if Whitestripe acted older than Stonetooth, to which Shadowclaw and Icemoon immediately agreed to and pointed out her weaknesses. Then Swanpaw brought up Begoniaclaw when Icemoon stated that she wanted AdderClan to kill Stonetooth, to which she remedied that she hoped Begoniaclaw was okay, and the others agreed.

Dandelionpaw decided to make the conversation lighter by mentioning that they still had a great time in kithood since she didn't want to talk about it anymore, and the others jumped onto it, especially Birchpaw. Birchpaw then wondered why they entered the apprentice's den, especially Shadowclaw, Icemoon and Rainpaw, since it wasn't their den, and they got a little worried since he seemed to be acting closed off, but they said that he wanted them to come with them on patrol since his patrol was cut short, to which Birchpaw agreed and prayed that things would become better for all of them. (*Chapter 30: Peaceful Aftermath*)

The next half-moon, Applefall had given birth to Dustkit and Oakkit, and the day afterwards, Thymekit, Birchpaw's paternal cousin's son, had gotten apprenticed to Violetrain, Fireclaw's older littermate. Another day later, Birchpaw was feeling feelings of uselessness until Snowstar included him on the SnowClan border patrol, along with his mentor, Peonyclaw. Blazesky, Maplestripe, Sealbranch, Whitestripe, Rainpaw, Swanpaw, Primrosepaw and Dandelionpaw were also included on the patrol, and Primrosepaw became distraught when she realized that they were going to the same creek where she fell eight moons ago. To Birchpaw's surprise, Whitestripe comforted her before he could, and other cats did so, too. After the cats were chosen to go on the AdderClan border patrol, they all departed, and Birchpaw tried to comfort Primrosepaw which she acknowledged, but didn't reply to.

Rainpaw started up a playful banter about Whitestripe and Icemoon soon after they left which quickly evolved into Primrosepaw and Quailclaw and Dandelionpaw and Shadowclaw being shipped together, too, and it had lightened the mood until they finally got there. But when Blazesky was about to give them instructions, an AdderClan patrol had somehow appeared out of the bushes even though it was the MoonClan-SnowClan border, which included Fangstar, Stonetooth, Windwing, Amberleaf, and Fangstar's apprentice, Airpaw. Whitestripe had wanted to interact with his littermate again as Birchpaw knew since he was sympathetic, and while Whitestripe and Primrosepaw had tried to intimidate Windwing, Birchpaw didn't as he was getting more and more anxious by the moment. Since Peonyclaw was still furious at her daughter, the encounter had quickly turned into a full-on battle. Birchpaw tried to help the younger apprentices, Primrosepaw and Dandelionpaw, especially the former, fight.

Birchpaw defended his littermate, Peonyclaw and Primrosepaw from an AdderClan warrior, Littlemoon, and attempted to fight him until while pouncing, another warrior knocked him down halfway through the pounce. Maplestripe and Dandelionpaw were there to save him, however, so Birchpaw managed to escape. After Rainpaw asked him if he was okay, Airpaw was about to pounce on her which she dodge, but then Airpaw tried to swipe Primrosepaw, and Birchpaw noticed Primrosepaw wasn't ready to dodge, so he took the blow and felt that it was necessary. Birchpaw told Rainpaw that it was a simple scratch so he didn't need to be healed. After Sealbranch came to defend Primrosepaw and Stonetooth came to defend Airpaw, Fangstar also came and was about to slash Birchpaw's neck until Birchpaw ducked, but the slash still hit his ears. Birchpaw then tried to slash Windwing's stomach while he was distracted with Sealbranch.

Amberleaf yowled at Fangstar to retreat since she was running out of herbs, though Fangstar was dismissive. Against Birchpaw's better judgement, he attempted to inquire the AdderClan leader why they were here if their camp was far and would have to cross through SnowClan, which surprised Fangstar with his audacity, but the leader merely dismissed him. Then Birchpaw noticed Stonetooth was about to pounce on him and dodged, but questioned her why she came, to which she replied she was good. After slashing her flank, Stonetooth slashed his forehead deep enough for it to bleed. Peonyclaw quickly came and tried to fight Stonetooth in revenge, while Rainpaw treated him and took him to a bush to take a small break. Birchpaw overheard Windwing say to Whitestripe that he was the new deputy of AdderClan which surprised Birchpaw, since he knew the previous deputy had been Longfoot. Finally, Amberleaf managed to threaten Fangstar into going back, but then Birchpaw noticed Swanpaw still fighting with Littlemoon very close to the cliff, and while trying to get there, he saw from the corner of his eye Whitestripe getting kicked off by Windwing, and while he was distracted, Swanpaw accidentally dodged Littlemoon without her front paws on the ground and she fell forward.

Birchpaw instinctively decided to save both them by leaping into the water himself, but while doing so, accidentally injured his right hind leg so terribly that it nearly broke. He almost drowned, but was somehow able to swim to Whitestripe and Swanpaw and push them up with all his strength before collapsing on top of them and seeing Moonstar smiling at him and passing out. (*Chapter 31: The Creek of Blood*)

Unbeknowst to him, Whitestripe, Swanpaw and him were healed by Rainpaw and brought back to camp, and it made the entire camp distressed for a few days until he woke up. After waking up, Birchpaw saw all of his friends and family there, and they all happened to congratulate him for his deed. When they started talking if they were going to do something now that he was awake, Birchpaw was confused until he realized what they were talking about; they would give him warriorhood early. He was named Birchcreek after his deed of saving Whitestripe and Swanpaw from the creek, and also indirectly after Forestcreek. (*Chapter 32: The New Warrior*)

*See: Part 2: Birchpaw's Training*

## Young Warriorhood

### 13-17 moons

It took Birchcreek a moon to heal from his injury enough that he could do warrior duties again, though he had a slightly noticeable limp for a while.

> Click to see the complete family of Birchstar!
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