Birch

Look out— here comes trouble! Other dragons often hear Birch before they see him. His presence is foretold by loud crashes, clatters, bangs, and… the sounds of many creatures? He never goes far without the company of at least three familiars. His favorites are the ones with the sharpest teeth. He tears through the lair on all fours, sending ancient scrolls toppling and carefully carved statues to their early demise. In other words, he is a catastrophe. Nobody really knows where he came from. He simply appeared one day, began wreaking havoc, and has been a clan member ever since. His favorite activities include ‘rock bowling,’ scaling perilous surfaces, pulling ludicrous pranks, and shrieking at the top of his lungs. This youngster has a lot of energy. Unfortunately for his clanmates, he tends to release this energy in some rather destructive methods. Hopefully someone can rein him in before he explodes the entire lair.

Most tolerate his wild antics, fondly referring to him as the ‘mushroom-covered menace.’ Many a time, he finds himself lifted by the scruff of the neck, carried off, and plopped down to disturb ‘someone, literally anyone else.’ His familiars follow, piling on top of him in an embrace of many limbs, tails, and snouts. Though he is the cause of many annoyances, nobody knows how to bond with beasts the way Birch can. Some dragons joke that it’s because he’s part beast himself. Deep down, they’re glad to have him around— he keeps things interesting, to say the least. There’s nothing quite like waking up to six pairs of glowing jade eyes staring deeply into your soul early in the morning. There’s no use locking doors or barring windows. Birch will find a way in. He is quite the escape artist. As a hatchling, the words, ‘time out’ had very little meaning. He always managed to wriggle his way out of every trap. Everyone has completely given up on taming him. He will be a wild dragon until the end of time. At least he shouts apologies over his shoulder as he barrels his way through his clanmates’ most prized possessions.

Birch’s most complex prank involved an Amaranth Moth, a Maned Cobra, and two Bogsneak Puppets. The puppets were instructed to sit on a shelf, pretending to be inanimate. Unfortunately, there were buttons on that shelf, which distracted the creatures, sending the shelf’s contents flying every which way. The cobra was up next. Birch hoped the snake would slither silently into the target dragon’s bed, where they would receive quite a fright. Unfortunately, the cobra got tangled up in a ball of red yarn. The Amaranth Moth was the little dragon’s last hope. Sending his final troop in for battle, he instructed the insect to hide on the ceiling and then flutter down onto the unsuspecting target’s face. This is about the time when Cormag returned to his lair, received an Amaranth Moth to the face, tripped over his own belongings, and became immediately tangled in the yarn-cobra mess. Birch counted this as a supreme success. Then he ran away. Quickly.

The other dragons wonder how Moss can have so much patience for such a dastardly fiend. The pair of them have an incredibly close relationship. Birch sees the elder dragon as a mentor and Moss sees the troublemaker as a mirror of his former self. He has truly taken the youngster under his wing. Perhaps the tranquil Tundra can help the hectic Aberration become more even-tempered. The two are practicing meditation together— although Birch cannot meditate for very long before he begins to fidget, or runs off to chase an insect. Truly, the two balance each other out quite well. There can be no peace without mayhem, and no mayhem without a bit of respite every now and then. Everyone is grateful for their leader’s guidance when it comes to the lair’s most notorious nuisance. At the end of the day, everyone cherishes the ridiculousness and laughter that Birch brings to their lives. Things would be incredibly dull without his raucous ideas and silly pranks.

His vitality is his strength. Many a time, he will be out late hatching plots and will spot a nearby threat to the clan. He’ll sound the alarm by bashing pots and pans together, which definitely does the trick waking everyone up. Birch is the self-appointed scout of the lair. Nothing gets past his wandering gaze. He’ll prepare himself to go out and fight the intruder by himself before Moss will snatch him up by the tail and tell him to stay put until the danger has passed. He struggles with the fact that most of the lair does not take him seriously, but he knows that for the most part, this is his own doing.