Ficlet: Friendship After All

[vilakins]

This week's topic: PGP. Now I think of it, this is almost a sequel to hafren's lovely At Ease. 200 words.

Friendship After All

"I got all the stuff we needed," Vila said. "It's being delivered to our berth this afternoon."

Avon nodded.

"I went through the food market on the way back and got some wine and a really nice cheese. It's a Dutch one, matured for over two years. Won an award." He put it on the table in front of Avon. "Know what I call it?" He paused for maximum impact. "Gouda prime!"

Avon winced. Seeing the pain in his eyes, Vila was immediately sorry.

He'd escaped the carnage with a relatively minor wound and gone back later and broken Avon out of prison in a complex mixture of vestigial friendship and the desire to make him pay for what had happened. It wasn’t much fun needling someone who never answered back though, or punishing someone who had obviously done so, much more efficiently, himself.

"Sorry." Vila opened a bottle, poured two glasses, and sat beside Avon. "Here you go. Have a drink with me, Ave, me old mate." Rewarded with a flash of that amused warmth he used to see in Avon's eyes back on the Liberator, Vila smiled at him and lifted his glass. "After all, we're still here."