Far from home, small-time journalist Cauliflower Shrew has made it to the cradle of endless death that is the former Arisian League, itself the bloated corpse of what was once Hippogriffia, to report on the violent embers of its civil war. With the services of infamous griffon gun-runner Gerwin, she has all her bases covered for this trip.
But it's not just the news she's been sent here for. She's been given a solution with which to end the bloodshed.
And that gun-running griff may be the key.
An entry to Science Fiction Contest II.
Belated thanks to UnknownError, The Great Scribbly One, and Kognitive#6856 for initial brainstorming help.