Birchsong

LichenClan

long haired seal point molly with white markings and blue eyes

While Birchsong is nowhere near the largest cat in Thistleclan, but she is just a bit larger than average. Her fur exaggerates this difference, making her seem significantly larger than she is. Her pelt is long and thick, and it takes a lot of time to keep it manageable. She has a big, heavy head and a wide face. Her primarily white fur makes her dark blue eyes stand out in her face.

Regarding the coloration of her coat, Birchsong sometimes stands out from her family. Her father was notorious for his mink point fur, and very little of it can be seen on her own body. One of her ears is darker brown, and she has a lot of spotting on her back and tail that allows her heritage to show through.

Since her exile from ThistleClan, Birchsong has grown to appear increasingly ragged. Her fur is stringy and dull, her claws overgrown and brittle. Her eyes are often weepy with exhaustion. She has a few scars since becoming a rogue, including a scar along her throat from Lily. She also has a scar on her back from fighting a fox with her niece, Featherfox.

From an outside perspective, she may not seem to take her duties seriously. She always seems too lost in her thoughts to be productive. She constantly finds herself daydreaming the time away, and lives within her own fantasies most of the time. Despite this, she does genuinely care about her clan, particularly all of the cats within it, and less so the culture that has been historically precedented.


When Birchsong is performing her warrior duties, she has trouble staying quiet and focused. She is easily distracted by her surroundings and is known for wandering off mid-task. When she is being spoken to, she will often drift off, her mind elsewhere. She actively avoids situations that require sustained mental effort and seems to be driven primarily by her curiosity. This all changes when she spots her prey. She can quiet her mind and put all of her efforts into a single task: the hunt. It is as if a cloud that surrounds her is lifted, and she can see the destination before her. Every movement is guided by instinct in its truest form. However, if something does manage to draw her attention from her hunt, the prey might as well be lost, because she usually cannot recover from it in time.


Birchsong finds herself often taking on the role of the caregiver. She is kind and gentle and is particularly skilled when she is called upon to help others with their woes. She connects with others deeply, and can usually tell how to best speak to an individual at any given time. She can be funny and playful when another needs it, but she also knows when it is best to be quiet with someone.


She does not have a mean bone in her body though, and when met with hostility she becomes submissive and afraid quickly. She is unlikely to strike back and is much more prone to running away if she can. When she must fight, she attacks as any prey animal might - only using force to escape combat. She rarely experiences the sort of anger that makes one want to strike another, and, outside of those rare instances, she is quick to flee even if it means leaving those she loves behind.

mother: daisythorn
father: minkfoot

littermates: cherrybite (blitz), firfoot (ego), spruceshade (storm), juniperfang (maxx), yewthorn (wish)
children: meadowpaw (sloth), cedarkit (me), pinesmoke (egotistic)

mentor: thrushwhisker
apprentice: nettlepaw, egretpaw (rain)


Daisythorn was not by any means a large cat, so no one was expecting her to have a massive litter of six. While such a large litter of kits was a blessing for Thistleclan after a particularly hard leaf-bare, Daisythorn was hugely overwhelmed. Luckily for her, she had her mate, Minkfoot, to be by her side during the whole endeavor. They named each kit after a different type of tree, Yewkit, Firkit, Birchkit, Cherrykit, Juniperkit, and Sprucekit.


Birchkit was in no way the runt of the litter given her relatively large size, even as a kit. Despite this, she did seem to lag behind her siblings from time to time. Despite being the third-born child, she was treated more like the youngest. Her mother doted on her, and Birchkit loved the attention from Daisythorn. She was often found nestled in her soft fur when her siblings played and rough-housed. It wasn't that she was not close to them, nor that they excluded her. However, many of them had much stronger personalities than she did. She found solace with Sprucekit, her brother, who was much like her in his quiet attitude.


The kits were all made apprentices on their sixth moon, and the clan celebrated joyously. Luckily for Birchkit, Froststar assigned her a mentor that was not too strict or intense. Instead, she was assigned to Thrushwhisker, an experienced warrior who was known for his skill in hunting and gentle nature. Under Thrushwhisker's guidance, Birchsong began to come out of her shell. She became braver than she was as a kit, and her curious streak sometimes led her into trouble. However, her mentor was always there when she needed him, and she is grateful for his patience when training her.

A few moons into her apprenticeship Birchpaw was returning from hunting with her mentor when she was horrified to see foxes attacking the camp. Thrushwhisker flung himself into battle, but Birchpaw hesitated. She saw her brothers dash into the nursery, and she knew she had to act. She ran after them, avoiding the rest of the conflict, where she saw them fighting the fox. Again, she hesitated and watched them act in unison. They were all in sync wonderfully, fighting as a unit. Even if she could convince her legs to work instead of just standing and staring, she was mortified by the possibility of getting in their way, and it has tragic consequences. She ran before her brothers slew the beast. She ran and hid, terrified of the foxes and of revealing how inadequate she was. It was not long before Thruskwhisker found her, huddled against the back of the apprentice den. The gentle mentor did his best to comfort her, to tell her how she was still young and inexperienced, and how you don't always know how you will react when you are in your first, real fight. Even so, the shame of being incapable and a coward was horrifying. It only became worse when she learned that one of the kits had been killed. The blow to her self-confidence was a permanent mark. It was a long time until she was able to face her brothers again.

She failed her first assessment but was able to pull it together and passed it the second time she was assessed. At 15 moons, she was given the name Birchsong for her gentle nature and her kindness.


While Yewthorn, Birchsong's brother, was gaining his title of ThistleClan's resident playboy, Birchsong was secretly pining after one cat in particular. The warrior was nine moons older than she, and her warrior name was still unfamiliar in her mouth when she was sent on a patrol with him and another cat or two. He did something heroic or charming, or maybe just didn't get frustrated at her when she got distracted by a pretty feather on the ground. Either way, she felt the butterflies when she interacted with him, and she longed to be sent on patrol with him again. A few moons passed by before she managed to confront the tom and tell him of her feelings.

The meeting didn't go according to Birchsong's plan. She told him that she was thinking about him often, that she found him to be very handsome, and that she would like to get to know him better. Unfortunately, it became apparent that he did not feel the same way about her. She internalized this feeling as rejection and vowed to never again let herself admit that she was romantically interested in a cat unless she knew that it would be reciprocated. In this way, she began to envy her brother Yewthorn. He found love so easily, and she was left without the words to describe how badly she wanted it as well.

After another band of foxes attacked in ThistleClan territory, Birchsong was left to grieve for her fallen father, Minkfoot. Her siblings were devastated, but Birchsong took comfort in their presence. She saw this as a way that she could prove her worth, and provide solace to those she cared about. She did her best to spend extra time with each of her siblings to help them through this trying time, as well as to help herself heal from the sudden loss as well.


She was later assigned her first apprentice. At first, Nettlepaw seemed frustrated that she was assigned to a mentor that seemed so trapped in her own head, but the young she-cat warmed up to Birchsong, not after long. Mentoring Nettlepaw was a challenge for Birchsong, especially after Nettlepaw began to show talent in combat. It was not long before Nettlepaw could outfight her mentor, despite the size difference. Luckily, Birchsong was able to enlist her more combat-oriented siblings to show both Nettlepaw and herself some new moves. Meanwhile, she made a careful hunter of Nettlepaw. After the initial frustration, the pair got along very well. Nettlepaw's shell was broken and a sweet cat began to come out of it, one who was still willing to remind Birchsong what lesson they were learning when she went on too long of a tangent.

Midway through Nettlepaw's training, a flood-ravaged Thistleclan's camp. Birchsong was so focused on carrying kits out of the flooded nursery that she wasn't able to stop Nettlepaw from dying in the chaos. She was torn apart by the loss and was only able to make it through with the love of her siblings. She did her best to help the clan rebuild while keeping Nettlepaw in her memory. While her belief in Starclan had been skeptical at best before, she discovered that she found comfort in the idea of Nettlepaw being safe and happy in the night sky, as well as the idea that her mother and father might be watching her from the heavens, quietly rooting for her to succeed. With her family she finds strength, and she hopes that one day she will be able to provide that strength to new family members, whether they are her own or not.


On a stormy afternoon, Birchsong met Oleander for the first time. He was a soft and kind loner, but that was not what captured her heart about him. The tom pursued her, wanted her, and loved her, all without her begging for it. And that was enough to draw her in.

She bore his kits not long after, and, after some convincing, Maplebranch claimed to be the doner. Two perfect kittens were born, Cedarkit and Meadowkit. Life was perfect until Birchsong brought Cedarkit to meet her true father outside of camp. Oleander showed his true colors as Lily's firstborn son and stole Cedarkit away into the night. Without any way to save her daughter, Birchsong returned to ThistleClan alone but was exiled for endangering her kits and sleeping with the enemy by Thievingstar. Her sister, Juniperfang, had told Thievingstar of the true father of her kits.


Lost and afraid, Birchsong managed to survive on the edges of ThistleClan territory for the majority of the winter. When prey became too scarce in outsider land, her brother Firfoot fed her and cared for her. Once grief began to wane and the snow began to melt, she decided that it would be her mission to reunite with her wayward daughter and her mate.

She discovered Lily's group and, after nearly falling to the rogue leader's claws, she was begrudgingly accepted as Oleander's mate. She bowed her head and emersed herself in the group, tidying nests and hunting for the injured and sick. Cedarkit did not talk to her, and Oleander was lost in long fits of sadness. Birchsong found purpose in caring for the weak and in making her mate find joy in his life, even though each happy moment was fleeting and misery persisted with every beat of their hearts.

When Lily's gang joined LichenClan's ranks, Birchsong fell into place easily. Finally, there were similarly-minded felines around to speak to and befriend. She did her best to make herself useful, whether that be hunting for LichenClan, gathering moss, or joining Briarfall to collect herbs. No matter what she did, she always was sure to put others before herself as she had always done.

She realized she was pregnant not long after they found their homes in the tunnels beneath the clans. In a chance meeting at the border, Birchsong managed to convince Stagstar to accept her unborn kitten into ThistleClan. A moon later, he brought her sole child, Pinekit, to his mate and Birchsong's sister to raise as her own beside her own heir.

Finally, the war reached its peak. Finding Oleander and Cedarkit missing, she charged from her nest to find them. It was on the battlefield that she saw her mate hanging from her own brother's jaws. She confronted Firfoot with claws and teeth. She was no longer welcome in ThistleClan. So instead, she turned back towards the temporary home she had forged within LichenClan.


She never did find Cedarkit, but, with Yarrowstar's approval, she joined LichenClan as a full warrior. She strives to undo the hurts she has caused and to make a nest for herself among them - hoping that the journey of her past and the ghost of her mate does not continue to haunt her.

She never did find Cedarkit, but, with Yarrowstar's approval, she joined LichenClan as a full warrior. She strives to undo the hurts she has caused and to make a nest for herself among them - hoping that the journey of her past and the ghost of her mate does not continue to haunt her.

Slowly but surely, Birchsong began to become a true LichenClanner. She learned how to fish and swim and climb the stone cliffsides. Those of high blood in LichenClan looked down upon her, and those who had hated the rogues scoffed when she walked past, but Yarrowstar's assurance that eventually LichenClan would find her one of their own left the she-cat with a drive to continue despite the social opposition.

When the flood struck, she encountered her brother, Yewthorn, for the first time since she was exiled. With newly founded swimming skills, she rescued him from the high waters. The pair shared a long moment, but just a moment, at each other's side. Birchsong secretly grappled with whether to reveal that she had birthed one of Stagstar's children, but her brother left to find his own kits before she could speak the truth.

Not long after, Birchsong was named a mentor for the first time since the flood several seasons prior. She admired Egretpaw immediately, finding the young she-cat's drive to succeed inspiring. Birchsong made a promise to help Egretpaw achieve her goals, and she is intent to keep her promise into the leaf-bare season.


Slowly but surely, Birchsong began to feel like she might find a new life within LichenClan. She would often pray to StarClan that, when all was said and done, she might find her children once again and make things right by them.