“Sanctuary”

Prompt: The Teeniest Beastling

The Slayer Wars of beastfolk against demigod had ended with Dracora’s Wrath, elemental spirits lashing out against the use of magic in warfare. Both sides suffered as the land was torn asunder by storm, famine, drought, fire, flood, and blizzard. They were lucky to avoid the apocalypse glimpsed by seers, but it would take decades to recover, and new black deserts of corrupted magic were permanent scars of their folly.
Dawnstar the Selfless was the runt of her clutch. The dragoness was tiny at adulthood, pony-sized, but it saved her life when her family was killed by the crazed, demigod-slaying Cult of Nex. While other demigods focused their magic on growth, she turned her power to shrink herself. It wasn’t long after that she learned to shrink others and passed on the spell.
Dawnstar counted their supplies again as her mate, Grainflint, the field mouse, entered the burrow with another newly shrunken group of demigod and beastfolk refugees. Folk never got used to the idea of a dragon and mouse pairing, but that shock kept them quiet long enough for her to recite house rules and get them settled. At this rate, they would have a city.
“Low on food?” Grainflint asked as he hugged her.
She nodded, “My turn to forage.”
“You’re with child,” the mouse reminded gently, “You know how I feel about that.”
She nuzzled him, twining her tail with his, “I’m a dragon. I’ll be fine.”
He never won the argument, but she took a healer with the scouts to ease his mind.
Dawnstar regained full size, gathering medical herbs and keeping watch while the others stayed small. The otters fished minnows from a drying puddle. The kirin and manticore gathered grains and hunted insects.
The weather changed without warning, all too common nowadays. Hail struck Dawnstar as she gathered party and supplies, racing back to the burrows. The sudden firewhirl caught her off guard, nearly roasting them, but a blast of her lightning breath dispelled it.
Grainflint fussed and scolded over her injuries when they returned, but overall she considered it a good day’s work.