{ refusal }

"Birchpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend this clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Uphold the warrior code?

Defend his clan, even at the cost of his life?

"Never."

Birchpaw is a rebel; whenever he can do something different, he does, whether it be deliberately collecting tree bark instead of moss or coming up with ominous prophecies to do his best fooling everyone with. His little jokes, typically, are met with exasperation and thorough scolding - everyone assumes that he's simply a troublemaker, one that'll snap out of it once he becomes a fully-fledged warrior who'll be willing to do anything to gain any kind of good reputation.

Little do they know, though: not a single cat within ThunderClan understands Birchpaw, whose bewildering desires could turn deadly if not answered to. What he wants, really, is something entirely reasonable: to be free of the warrior code and of the four Clans, and to live naturally like cats all once did.

But the path he treads is one as delicate as a spindly branch in leaf-bare's harsh winds - and should he lose his grip, even for a heartbeat, he will be embraced by their merciless fangs and swept away forever.