Graypool

Graypool is a skinny, dark gray she-cat with soft, patchy fur, a scarred muzzle turning white with age, a small head, broken teeth, and pale yellow eyes.

Crookedstar's Promise

 * Graykit is born to Fallowtail of RiverClan and Reedfeather of WindClan along with her sister, Willowkit, though at that time, it is unknown that Reedfeather is their father.


 * Crookedkit takes Graykit and her sister out to play, and while watching the two play, he sees a heron circling high above the RiverClan camp. The heron dives down and attempts to attack RiverClan, so Crookedkit protects her and her littermate. Afterwards, Graykit ungratefully claims that she did not see the heron because Crookedkit was sitting on top of her, not realizing Crookedkit saved her life.


 * Reedfeather comes to claim his kits after a big quarrel happens between Fallowtail and Reedfeather. He wins the fight and gets the kits while Fallowtail sinks into deep depression and sorrow. Some time later, Hailstar comes into camp with two bundles of fur which are the kits. Fallowtail runs to her kits, licks them, and cries.


 * Graykit and Willowkit become apprentices, and Graypaw receives Brightsky as her mentor. She is excited to be going to the Moonstone with Cedarpelt and Crookedpaw, along with her sister and her mentor, Owlfur. As Willowpaw worries that WindClan might steal them back, she fluffs out her fur and reminds Willowpaw that WindClan followed the warrior code, and would never stop them from traveling to the Moonstone, and exchanges a glance with her sister, reliving memories of their moon in the other Clan. She screws up her nose when Cedarpelt tells them to get traveling herbs from Brambleberry, and complains at the taste when she swallows hers.


 * As the group travels to the Moonstone, Cedarpelt tells Graypaw that there's no need to stir up memories by marching them right past WindClan's camp. When they reach Mothermouth, Graypaw gasps. When Crookedpaw catches a rabbit while they are waiting, Graypaw finishes first, and Brightsky gives her the rest of her share. Brightsky teases her that nothing ruins her appetite, and asks her if she realized they were about to meet StarClan. When she sees the Moonstone for the first time, she is amazed.


 * When Oakheart is teasing Crookedpaw about Willowpaw liking him, he mentions that Graypaw had said that Willowpaw was going to move her nest next to Crookedpaw's. She is seen beside her sister during Hailstar's speech to reclaim Sunningrocks. The day after, she and Brightsky go out to mark the borders.


 * At a Gathering, Willowpaw remarks that Graypaw was a show-off, glancing back at a knot of apprentices and seeing Graypaw twisting in the air. Crookedjaw suggests teasingly that she should show them how Graypaw snores, and Willowpaw says she's not sure if they're ready for that.


 * Shellheart puts Crookedjaw in charge of a patrol consisting of Oakheart, Mudfur, Brightsky, and Voleclaw to check for WindClan scent at the Twoleg bridge. Brightsky asks if Graypaw can come, and Crookedjaw replies that she can. Graypaw scampers in the shallows, asking if they could fish. Oakheart tells her she can if she wants to carry it for the rest of the morning. She wonders if eating a tiny minnow would be breaking the warrior code, but Mudfur tells her it would still be breaking the warrior code.


 * Brightsky calls for Graypaw to come back, as she had crossed the bridge and was sniffing the bank on the other side. She calls back that it was their territory right up to the waterfall, and Brightsky growls that Fallowtail should have raised her to do as she was told. Oakheart is growling during the banter, and Crookedjaw sees Twolegs a few tail-lengths from Graypaw. The warriors tell her to run, but she is rooted to the ground, and Brightsky grabs her scruff as the other warriors distract the Twoleg kits. Brightsky tells her to run again, and she does, sprinting across the bridge and into the river, back to the camp.


 * Graypaw returns with Hailstar and Echomist, leading them out of the grass. Hailstar says she had told them what happened, and Fallowtail thanks Crookedjaw for saving her. As they head back, Crookedjaw notes that it was obvious she had told the whole Clan about her near-capture.


 * A half moon later, her mentor has moved into the nursery, expecting Mudfur's kits, although she is now sick. Graypaw is huddled under the shade of the fallen tree. She tells Crookedjaw that she would have listened to Brightsky if she knew she was expecting kits, and Crookedjaw tells her it wasn't her fault she was ill. Rippleclaw wakes up and asks if Piketooth, her new mentor, couldn't take her training to take her mind off things. Seeing that he's busy with the kits, he teaches her some moves at the edge of the clearing. When Rippleclaw says he wants to be in the patrol that marks Sunningrocks, Piketooth tells the kits he has to train Graypaw, and asks if she wants to fish as they leave camp.


 * After Brightsky dies, Willowpaw and Graypaw race into camp, declaring that they passed their assessments. Graypaw paces around her sister, and says that Willowpaw caught a blackbird, and Willowpaw says that Graypaw had caught the biggest trout Owlfur had ever seen. When their warriors name are announced, Graypaw is named Graypool, and her sister, Willowpaw, is named Willowbreeze.


 * A moon after they become warriors, Graypool and Willowbreeze go on patrol with Crookedjaw, Voleclaw, Oakheart, and Petaldust. When Mapleshade rolls the Twoleg ball closer, she hides under a bramble from an adult Twoleg. When Willowbreeze is captured by a Twoleg, Graypool stares after her sister in horror.


 * When Crookedjaw plans to save Willowbreeze, Graypool asks if she can come, but Fallowtail won't let her; however, Graypool follows him anyway. Crookedjaw tells her to go home, but Graypool refuses. The two sniff around the Twoleg pelt-dens and wait until the Twolegs fall asleep and free Willowbreeze from the cage. The cage falls on top of Graypool, who squawks, and she and Crookedjaw pull at the trap, freeing her sister and escaping back out into the field.


 * Far away from the pelt-dens, Crookedjaw sees Mapleshade. She asks what the holdup was and asks if he needs help. Crookedjaw flicks his tail impatiently and tells her to get Willowbreeze back safely, as she'd gone through a lot in one day; she nods and steers her sister down the path.


 * She is seen while Shellheart is organizing the day's patrols. Rippleclaw, her mate is murmuring in her ear. She is seen expecting his kits, having recently moved from the warriors' den to the nursery. She is sick, having felt nauseous for days and having little appetite. Oakheart asks if they should move Graypool and Softwing up to the elders' den, but Hailstar tells him not yet.


 * She gives birth to her kits and names them Morningkit and Splashkit; however, they die from being sick and weak kits, less than a moon after they were kitted. She was said to have been very ill afterwards, and the medicine cats had to sit with her until she could go out of camp occasionally, yowling her heartbreak out loud.


 * She grieves for a very long time until two "stray" kits suddenly turn up. Oakheart states that he found them abandoned by the border. She looks up with defiance in her eyes, saying that she was going to keep them and raise them as her own. A moon later, the kits are now known as Stonekit and Mistykit. Stonekit complains to Graypool, as Mistykit had pounced on the bulrush Willowbreeze was dragging around for them. Graypool gently tells Mistykit to let her brother have a turn. When Stonekit complains that the carp Oakheart had caught smells fishy, she tells him it's because it's a fish. She promises him that they can have mouse another time when he asks.


 * Moons later, her fostered kits are now warriors, Mistyfoot and Stonefur. She chides Stonefur after hearing that he chased off a Twoleg, saying that she wished he wouldn't take so many chances.

Forest of Secrets

 * When Oakheart takes his and Bluestar's kits to RiverClan to become RiverClan kits, he gives them to Graypool, whom is then the oldest nursing queen, to nurse and raise them. He tells her that they were abandoned in the forest, not revealing his and Bluestar's secret love. Since she had just recently lost her kits, Graypool agrees to nurse them, though she refuses to believe that a mother would abandon her kits in the middle of the forest, especially during the middle of a cold leaf-bare. She questions Oakheart a little bit saying that she's known the loss of kits to a mother, but when he refuses, she doesn't push it. She then smells ThunderClan scent on them. The kits grow up to be Mistyfoot and Stonefur. They know Graypool as their mother, not Bluestar, and since they have the same colored pelt, they never questioned that she was their mother.


 * Graypool later tells Fireheart about their heritage, because he wants to know why Oakheart had told Redtail that no ThunderClan cat would ever harm Stonefur at the battle at Sunningrocks. Graypool says to Fireheart that she is proud of her two foster kits, mentioning that she likes to think they kind of look like her. Graypool also earns Fireheart's respect, and she gets him to promise he will never tell Mistyfoot and Stonefur of their divided heritage, because she likes that they think that she's their mother and sees them as her own kits.

A Dangerous Path

 * Due to her age, Graypool's mind starts to give way, and she starts to wander around aimlessly by herself.


 * She finds the ShadowClan leader, Tigerstar, at Fourtrees and mistakes him for Oakheart. She accidentally reveals the truth about some ThunderClan kits in RiverClan; Fireheart watches in horror as she realizes Tigerstar isn't Oakheart, and she begins to back up as Tigerstar walks forward, trying to learn more. She tries to escape, then slips off the slope and hitting her head on a rock and instantly dies. Tigerstar crouches to sniff her body, then bounds back up the slope toward his own territory.


 * A short while later, Graystripe and Mistyfoot come by and bring her body back to the RiverClan camp after Fireheart explains that she had slipped, not mentioning Tigerstar, although he is worried that because he is nearby, he will be thought partly responsible for her death. Fireheart then asks if he can help bury Graypool, but Mistyfoot says that he has done enough.

Night Whispers

 * Graypool is seen with Mudfur at the Moonpool in StarClan when Jayfeather walks in Willowshine's dream. Her paws are mentioned to be rooted to the stone, and she stares intently at Willowshine, while saying that their ancestors will walk with them.

Cats of the Clans

 * Rock tells Mosskit, Blossomkit, and Adderkit about how Oakheart gave his kits to Graypool to raise. He knew that she would smell their ThunderClan scent, but trusted her to keep quiet, as she would not purposely let two helpless kits die. No cat, including Mistyfoot and Stonefur themselves, questioned that she was their mother, because of their similarly colored fur, and she treated them like any other RiverClan kits. Other than Bluestar, and Oakheart, Graypool is the only cat who knew Mistyfoot and Stonefur's true heritage (although it is revealed in Crookedstar's Promise that Crookedstar knew of their heritage as well).

Battles of the Clans

 * She and her sister, Willowkit, are given to their WindClan father, Reedfeather, by Fallowtail. Later, Hailstar secretly leads a raiding party to steal the two kits back; he finds them, along with Timberfur and Ottersplash, and they threaten to kill two WindClan warriors to get away alive. They get back to RiverClan after a fight.


 * At the end of their apprenticeship, their mother, Fallowtail, comes to Hailstar asking that Graypaw be named Graypool and Willowpaw be named Willowbreeze, so they will forever remember that they carry the strength of both the wind and the water within them.

The Ultimate Guide

 * While out of camp, Willowbreeze is taken by Twolegs, in an attempt to keep her as a kittypet. Graypool, along with Crookedjaw, come up with a plan to rescue her; they are successful, and Graypool, Crookedjaw, and Willowbreeze soon return to RiverClan.


 * After Bluefur gives up her and Oakheart's kits, Graypool becomes their foster mother, raising them after the death of her own litter of kits. She cares for Mistykit and Stonekit greatly, and although she is not their real mother, Graypool helps to raise them to be strong and loyal RiverClan warriors. While Graypool is never directly told who the mother of Mistyfoot and Stonefur are, she guesses correctly as to who their mother is. She keeps this secret from RiverClan, Stonefur, and Mistyfoot, since Oakheart wanted what was best for his kits.

Mistystar's Omen

 * At the end of the vigil for Leopardstar, Mistystar leans into her ear and whispers "May the sun warm your back and the fish leap into your paws". Pouncetail overhears and says that he hasn't heard that saying since before the Clans left the old forest. Mistystar tells him that Graypool used to say it to Stonefur and her as a way of wishing them good dreams.


 * When Mistystar wakes up in StarClan during her nine lives ceremony, Graypool is the first StarClan cat she meets. Graypool enters through bushes behind Mistystar, and Mistystar recognizes her by scent before sight. The two she cats greet each other with purring, nuzzling, and licking. Mistyfoot buries her face in Graypool's fur and confesses that she is scared of making a mistake during the ceremony. Graypool reassures her that there is nothing to mess up or get wrong. While they talk, the other StarClan cats gather around them. Graypool is the first to give Mistystar one of her new lives. Graypool gives her a life to use for loving her Clanmates 'as if each cat were your kit, borne of your body and your pain.' Although receiving the life hurts, Mistystar draws strength from the warmth she sees in Graypool's eyes and remains standing. Mistyfoot thanks her, and Graypool steps back.

Interesting facts

 * Graypool suffered a form of dementia toward the end of her life.
 * She has WindClan blood via Reedfeather.

Mistakes

 * She was mistakenly called Graypool when she was still an apprentice.
 * In Forest of Secrets, she is said to have one remaining kit when Mistykit and Stonekit are brought to her, but in Crookedstar's Promise she has no remaining kits at that point.
 * She is mistakenly mentioned as Crookedstar's apprentice.
 * She was mistakenly described as pale gray.

Members
Mate:
 * Rippleclaw:

Son:
 * Splashkit:

Daughter:
 * Morningkit:

Kit:
 * Unnamed tabby kit:

Foster Son:
 * Stonefur:

Foster Daughter:
 * Mistystar:

Father:
 * Reedfeather:

Mother:
 * Fallowtail:

Sister:
 * Willowbreeze:

References and citations
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