section7mfu | International Thanksgiving for ficpic Tuesday 11/26

Illya was headed up the stairs leading to the First National City Bank of New York when he saw a young man whiz past him carrying a woman's purse. At the same time, he heard calls for help in Russian.

Like a flash he was after the man, tackling him and knocking him to the ground. In the following tussle, Illya snatched the purse and looked about for its owner. He was amazed to see that she was none other than Larissa Kirillovna Romanova, his father's old flame whom he himself had befriended recently.

h, thank you!" Larissa exclaimed as he handed her purse back to her. "Illya!" she exclaimed in surprise as she recognized him.

"How have you been, Larissa?" he asked.

"Times have been hard," she told him. "I've just had to sell some family heirlooms that were very precious to me just to meet ordinary expenses. I was on my way to deposit the money I made from selling them into the bank when that scoundrel grabbed my purse. Thank goodness you were here, Illya. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been."

"There, now. It is all right. It is all over with." He consoled her as tears of gratitude flowed down her cheeks.

"If you do not already have plans, Napoleon and I would love to have you over for dinner on Thursday," he continued. "It is the American Thanksgiving holiday, and my partner and I are planning to celebrate it together. It will be nothing fancy, but Napoleon is going to bake a turkey, and I will prepare some vegetables and sweets to go with it."

"That sounds lovely!" Larissa agreed.

Glad that he'd had the chance to bring some cheer into a lonely woman's life, Illya went to find Napoleon to tell him to expect an extra guest for Thanksgiving.

Thursday at noon, Larissa arrived at Napoleon's apartment bearing a large platter filled with what looked to Napoleon like honey buns.

"It is called a vatrushka," Larissa told him. "It originated with ancient Slavic tribes and has been around for thousands of years. It is commonly filled with cottage cheese, jam, or fruit puree. Mine are made with apples. I hope you enjoy them."

"I am very happy you brought them," Illya told Larissa. "I have not tasted one since I left home."

"Why do you Americans call this day Thanksgiving?" Larissa asked Napoleon as they ate. The brunet launched into a detailed discussion in which he told her everything he remembered from school about the Mayflower, the Pilgrims, the Native Americans, and the first Thanksgiving.

"I have heard of the Native Americans," Larissa told him. "I didn't know they were so generous and welcoming of strangers."

"Not all of them were," Napoleon replied. "Some tribes were quite hostile. "The Pilgrims were fortunate to have encountered one of the friendlier tribes."

"And what eventually became of them?" asked Larissa.

"Large numbers of them were wiped out either in battle or by imported European diseases such as smallpox. The ones who survived either assimilated into mainstream culture or live to themselves in poverty-stricken areas known as reservations."

"That's a real shame," Larissa commented.

"Yes, it is," Napoleon agreed.