Birch

Birch is a lithe ginger tom.

Thunder Rising

 * Birch, along with his sister, Alder, is born to Misty and an unknown tom.


 * Thunder finds the unnamed Birch and Alder in their den, after witnessing Clear Sky killing their mother, Misty. He calls Clear Sky, and Clear Sky curses when it dawns on him that he's just made two kits motherless. The two take the kits outside with Thunder blocking the kits's view of Misty's body. Clear Sky suggests that killing them is the kindest thing to do, but Thunder and Petal object. Petal offers to look after Birch and Alder.


 * Clear Sky is shocked at first, as Petal has hated Misty, but Petal says that she knows how it feels to be defenseless without a mother to take care of you or teach you how to live. Thunder decides to help Petal look after them, and she steps over the kits, murmuring that they'll be in a warm nest soon. She picks up Alder, whilst Thunder picks up Birch. Thunder lifts Birch above the grass as they walk to keep him clear of the grass, and he wonders if Clear Sky would have really killed Birch and his sister if Petal hadn't decided to take care of them.


 * On the moor, Wind Runner and Gorse Fur report that Clear Sky is expanding his territory. They reveal what happened to Misty, and they searched her nest but couldn't find Birch or Alder, and the pair have reached the conclusion that Clear Sky has killed them. As Bumble is found dying, Clear Sky reveals himself. Wind Runner demands if he killed Birch and Alder, but he replies that they are fine, being cared for by Petal.


 * Thunder takes a squirrel to Petal and the kits. She thanks him, and Thunder hopes to himself that the kits will grow into healthy cats. Petal reveals that she has named them Birch and Alder. Thunder comments that they are good names. Petal chews up some of the squirrel into a pulp, trying to persuade Birch and Alder to eat some of it.

The First Battle

 * Birch and Alder are mentioned by Clear Sky when he is accusing Falling Feather of disloyalty. He asks her if she wants them to starve like his younger sister, Fluttering Bird did. When Clear Sky calls for a meeting, Birch and Alder follow Petal, and the latter assures Birch, requesting for Alder to stay with her. She whisks her kits away back to a yew tree, and they stare from where they are. Once it begins, Birch is seen creeping up from the shadows and stares at Clear Sky, while his sister tugs his tail to haul him back to the yew. As Clear Sky denies the accusations that he killed Bumble, he glances toward Birch and Alder. When Clear Sky gets Nettle and Fircone to fight, Birch is straining against Alder's hold on his tail, and asks him if they can watch. He lets them and the two bound forward and skid to a halt next to Petal. Birch and Alder almost get crushed by Nettle when Fircone sends him flying backwards, and run out of the way shrieking when Petal tells them to move.


 * Birch and his sister are then taken out by Clear Sky for training, Birch galloping toward Clear Sky, which sends leaves flying. When Alder falls into a ditch, she calls for Birch, and e tries to pull Alder out of a ditch when she falls in, pulls her out by her scruff, and asks if she was fine. He asks Clear Sky if they can go slower, but he tells them that slow cats get caught. He and his sister hurtle up to their leader from a fern clump, ears flat against their heads and panting. Birch declares that they made it, and Clear Sky points out that they took their time. Birch comments that their legs weren't as long as his, but their leader says if they kept training, one day they would be as strong as him. Birch says that they might be even stronger, though Clear Sky doubts it. He flicks Birch's spine with his tail tip, and informs him to wait.


 * Birch frowns when Clear Sky tells them that they'll be playing hide and seek, and thought that they'd be training. Alder asks if they would hide as Birch waited, and Clear Sky informs Birch to look for them when the sun lifts to the next branch. As they find a hiding place, Clear Sky notes that Alder would need space to attack Birch when he arrived. Alder questions his decision, and refuses to attack Birch, as he wasn't warned. Clear Sky argues that he needed to learn, and Alder adds that he wouldn't be ready. As Clear Sky explains about the enemies of the group, he notes that Birch would be on his way, and informs Alder to roll in the mud, so Birch wouldn't scent her the moment he arrived. Clear Sky wonders if Birch would be on his way, and he then informs Alder to stay low so Birch wouldn't see her. Alder complains of the scent of rotting leaves, but Clear Sky points out that if Birch was an actual enemy, rotten leaves might be her best weapon. When they hear a dog barking, Alder exclaims that Birch was there by himself.


 * Once they arrive at the scene, Clear Sky hisses Birch's name, wondering where he was. Birch is then seen clinging to a trunk above the dog, fur bushed out, and presses himself hard against the tree's bark, prompting Alder to claim that the dog would kill him, and pleads for Clear Sky to save him. Then, Petal arrives, and plans to lead the dog away from Birch. Once the dog is gone, Petal calls for her foster kits, and Birch and Alder huddle in a crook of the lowest branch, pressed together. Clear Sky informs them that it was safe to come down, and Birch stretches his forepaws down the trunk, and clings before he slithers down. He begs to go home, and Petal allows them to, leading the way, with Birch on one side. Clear Sky comments that they had learned a lot that day, and Birch notes that they learned how to climb trees. As they keep going, Petal remarks that the kits were young to battle train, and Birch pulls away, chin up, and remarks that he wasn't. Clear Sky wonders if Gray Wing, Quiet Rain, or Bright Stream would agree with his thoughts, and he then hurries up to catch up with Birch, Alder, and Petal. When Thunder and Jackdaw's Cry find Petal, Thunder recalls watching play tail-chase with Alder and Birch.


 * After Thunder leaves, Clear Sky thinks that if he knew that Misty was fighting to protect Birch and Alder, he would have gone easier on her. Once Clear Sky returns from meeting Tom, Birch and Alder skip around Clear Sky. When Lightning Tail and Thunder look for Turtle Tail's kits, Clear Sky imagines Birch and Alder waiting in the hollow, running into him, eyes shining. He thinks that they wanted to be with him, unlike Thunder. During the meeting at the four trees, Petal reasons that Jackdaw's Cry was present because they couldn't leave him with Birch and Alder, and Jackdaw's Cry questions her choice.

The Blazing Star

 * Birch appears alongside Alder, Petal, and Clear Sky when they come to investigate what is happening between the moor cats and One Eye. They ignores Thunder's warning to stay away from the dead bird, and Birch dodges around him when he holds out a paw to hold him back and touches his nose to it. He recoils and backs away saying that it smells foul.


 * Thunder gives his father a look and Clear Sky tells the kits to come back, and they go back to their foster mother. He soon tells them to go back to camp with their mother and One Eye, and Petal leads them back into the undergrowth.



Trivia

 * He has been mistakenly called brown-and-white.

Members
Mother:
 * Misty:

Sister:
 * Alder:

Foster Mother:
 * Petal: