"Truly, I don't know how you managed it," Fíli says, smiling. He doesn't mind letting on when he's impressed, and he's certainly impressed now - Derek must have spent the entire day cooking to pull this off. "I would have thought an army of chefs would be needed to achieve such a feat."

He takes a sip of his ale and lets them sit in comfortable silence for a minute, then glances over at Derek again. "I don't think I ever thanked you for inviting us to this," he says, and doesn't know whether it's the drink, his strange mood, or a combination of the two that compels him to add, "We don't have Thanksgiving at home, but many of our celebrations are quite a lot like it. I missed them more than I'd realized; thank you for letting me be a part of this one."