This is a submission I am making for the Anthrocon 2020 conbook

The Great Mother - A Dinosaucers Bedtime Story
By Bossasaur
It is Evening - Somewhere on a world not entirely different from Earth, but having taken a very different evolutionary path, a gold feathered Dinosaur sits in a chair, reading from a book for her excited son, an undersized red tyrannosaurus hatchling, whose bright green eyes don't show a hint of drowsiness.
As she snaps the book shut and looks to her son, he claps his claws together and says, "Just one more, mommy, please!"
"You need to sleep, dear. It's well past your bedtime already." his mother cooed softly.
"PLEASE, just one more! I promise I'll go to sleep after!"
The mother smiled wryly, “Promise?”
“YES!” the boy snapped with a toothy grin.
His mother nodded her head, "Very well, I will tell you a story my mother told me long ago ... "
The tiny dinosaur excitedly pulled his covers around him as he sat on his mother’s lap, sucking on the tip of his tail as many hatchlings did.
"Long, long ago ... before the land and the air and the water, there was a great darkness and the only thing that gave warmth and light in this blackness were the stars. In this darkness lived a huge mother dragon, who was heavy with life and sought a home for her children ... whose eagerness for life threatened to burst her."
"She went from star to star, but they all turned her away, saying they had no patience for hatchlings; for they, too, were still young and weren't ready for a family."
"Discouraged and fretful, the mother finally came across another young star and begged of it, 'Sol, you are my last hope. My children will wait no longer. If you do not protest, I will give you a family, please let them bask in your warmth and grow strong.'"
"Sol considered for a long time before he responded, 'I am still young, dear mother ... I cannot raise your children on my own.'"
"The dragon responded, 'You will never be alone, Sol. Give my children life and I will keep them fed, give them earth to walk on, give them air to breath, give them water to drink. All we need is your warmth and your light, we will be no bother to you.'"
"Sol took in the mother's words carefully, then spoke with hesitation, 'Your burden is heavy, mother dragon ... I will help you carry it.'"
"Relieved the Great Mother sighed and gave a great push, producing not one, but two eggs."
"'I was not expecting twins.' the tired mother said. 'I will do what I can, but the rest is up to you, Sol.'"
"The mother dragon pushed her eggs so that they were on either side of sol and in just the perfect distance to receive his life giving light. Her blood, scales, flesh, and breath tore themselves from her, joining with the fragile eggs as she moved frantically between them."
"When she did all that she could, and was barely a skeleton, the mother dragon looked to Sol and said, 'Thank you for the lives of my children, Sol. Thank you for being our family.' "
“...” The mother stopped and tilted her head to her little red son, whose eyes were shut as he sagged in her arms,his tail lolling over her leg.
She hefted her hatchling up, and noted with a touch of sadness that he was growing quickly and soon carrying him would be the thing of memories. She tucked him into his nest, all the while humming a soft lullaby her mother would hum to her each evening.
She watched the rising and falling of his blankets as he slipped deeper into his slumber until her own eyes grew heavy with fatigue. She flicked off his light and walked quietly to the door, pulling it shut behind her, while whispering, "... Sleep well, my little dragon, I will always protect you."