Case #97402. Subject: Eriksen, Asmund Location: Narvik Norway.

While most people tend to focus on the success the Kurusu Experiment, and how its adoption has made interspecies relations play an important part in forming new bonds with the non human population, it is important to point out that even before the signing of the Cultural Exchange Act, their were numerous examples of humans enjoying happy romantic relations with Liminal kind. Since many liminal populations comprise of only one gender (mostly female) the governments of the world turned a blind eye to this practice, allowing for the continuation of many species, which in turn helped to persuade the still hidden races to abandon their isolation and come out in the world. However, their are numerous cases of human kind simply stumbling onto one of these isolated communities, and rather than doing all that they could to return to their own kind, they decided to settle down in their new homes, usually because they had developed romantic relationships with one of the members of the secret communities.

The Human and Liminal Relations Department of Japan wants to thank its Norwegian counterpart for providing us with such an example, and would like to personally thank Mr. Eriksen for sharing the details of how he had come managed to form a healthy relationship before not only the passing of the Kurusu Amendment, but also the revealing of liminal kind to the rest of humanity.

While many people would shake their heads at what I was trying to accomplish those 7 years ago, I have to admit that the decision to go mountain climbing just as autumn was giving way to winter was perhaps the best decision I ever maid.

I had always enjoyed the scenic landscape of Northern Norwary, filled with numerous snow capped mountains, multitudes of beautiful fjords, and indeed, I had chosen to pursue a career in which I could help other people enjoy the beauty of my home. Naturally this meant many journeys into the wilderness, but thanks to my father and grandfather's teachings, I was more than able to handle anything that I might encounter beyond the limits of Narvik.

Of course, I was constantly looking for greater challenges, so when some American tourists wished for me to lead them on an expedition into an area of mountainious terrain that was well known to be impassable, I gladly accepted the challenge, even though my friends and family called me a fool for doing so.

For you see, it was that time of year when the snowfall was at its greatest, and the sun would soon be failing to rise above the horizon for around 3 months, meaning that if we took too long in turning back home, my party and I would find ourselves walking in the dark in the middle of a snow storm. But the promise of adventure, not to mention a large cash incentive on the part of my patrons, shed me of any doubts I might have had about this dangerous journey.

Of course, within days of our late season expedition, things began to go wrong, and pretty soon, my party and I were soon sheltering in a unexplored cave system as we waited for one of the seasonal storms to loose its intensity before we began the process of tramping back home. However as the days went passed, the storm refused to let up, and eventually our carefully rationed supplies were soon running low.

We were eventually left with 2 options, neither of them were at the time considered to be good. The first one was that we brave the still heavy storm, and hope that we could somehow retrace our steps in the heavy snow. The second was to try and find a way off the mountain by exploring the cave system whose existence had been unknown until we were forced to seek for shelter. Going against my better judgment, I decided to pick the second option.

For hours me and my companions tramped through the dark, our way lit by the dying light of a emergency lamp. And as we progressed further and further into the cave, I began to notice several things that caused me to believe that the cave system was not as unexplored as I had originally thought.

For in addition to finding odd markings on the walls, written in a language that was closer to what was probably spoken by the early Vikings rather than their modern descendants, I began to hear whispered voices that seemed to spring from the shadows themselves rather than a more identifiable source. But I dismissed that notion for not only did it appear that I was the only one to notice such noises, but my head was starting to feel faint from the lack of enough food and the thin air of the cave system.

And after I decided to call a halt to our darkened march, and settled down to sleep, I remember the last image my eyes beheld before succumbing to unconscious was the sight of a blue skinned angel materializing from the shadows.

When I came to, I had to admit, cheesy as it sounds, that my first impression was that I had died in that cave and had been transported to my heavenly reward. For the first thing that I saw was perhaps the most gorgeous, and tallest woman that I had ever seen.

Long silky white hair that fell down to her waist, a figure that would make any supermodel jealous, and a face, that while somewhat lacking in expression, nevertheless made up for it by its beauty.

Needles to say, I felt compelled to ask her if I was in heaven, something which I'm happy to say brought a small, but very noticeable blush to the blue skinned woman, who proceeded to tell me about my latest circumstances.

The cave my companions and I had been travelling was in fact the main passage to a hidden valley that housed a small, secretive community of people whose race had served as the inspiration, if not the genuine article, for the mythological creatures known as Frost Giants.

During the Viking Age, they had held regular contact with the people of Scandinavia, doing what they could to help the people survive the cruel winters by providing food and medicine, as well as teaching the most skilled of warriors how to survive in the icy wilderness. But as Christianity finally managed to establish itself in the pagan north, humanity began to change its perception of their inhuman teachers, and followed the same policy of near total isolation that was being practiced by many of Europe's other nonhuman peoples.

In fact, their had been some debate amongst the villagers of this hidden sanctuary whether it would be safer for them to simply let my companions and I simply perish out their in the cold, but I'm happy to say that the majority voted to rescue us.

Of course, in doing so, that mean my party and I were now forced to accept a series of non negotiable conditions, the chief one being that we could never again leave the hidden valley unless we were escorted by at least 2 Frost Jotunn.

While my companions were more or less accepting of this condition, being a married couple who possessed few if any responsibilities back in the outside world, I on the other hand was quite upset with this rule. For not only was I being forced to leave behind a career I happened to enjoy, but I was leaving behind both family and friends.

Recognizing my displeasure, and suspecting that I might make a break for it if I was left to my own devices, I was housed with the Ice Woman who had not only been the first Ice Person I had seen after regaining consciousness, but was also in fact the chief's daughter, and the one next in line to rule the hidden village.

Looking back on those first couple of weeks under the care of the woman who eventually became my wife, I'm surprised Frieda hadn't turned me into a human popsicle considering my behavior was more suited to a moody teenager rather than a man grateful to be alive, but somehow she put up with me, and I soon began to accept the facts of my situation.

It greatly helped that my blue skinned caretaker was curious about the outside world, and with nothing better to do with my days besides the daily chores of caring for the crops that somehow managed to grow in the mountain valley, along with the odd hunting in the surrounding mountains, I spent most of my time telling my eager audience about my home city, the vacations I had taken to warmer countries, and all the adventures I had undergone due to the nature of my job.

I admit my first thought that I had about why she was so curious about the world beyond the mountains was because she wished to escape the valley in which her family had dwelt for generations, but that thought was soon proven wrong when she began to talk about all the adventures she had go on before she was old enough to learn directly from her father, an 8 foot tall man with a flowing white beard that always reminded me of Gandalf the White, about all their was to know about leading her people.

Compared to hunting deer and less savory creatures in the snow covered mountains, learning to control their powers so they didn't accidentally end up hurting themselves or their surroundings, proud to note that my eldest daughter Sigrid is exceptionally talented with her innate abilities, and learning how to survive on only snow and the odd uncovered route, I had to admit that her life was far more exciting than mine.

Of course as I settled in to my new role within the hidden society, I was eventually trusted with the freedom of wandering by myself, but as time went on, I found myself spending more and more time with Frieda, who always accepted my company with a teasing smile as she observed that I was slowly starting to become a true Frost Johtun.

And 2 years, give or take a week since I found the village's notion of keeping time to be very different from what humanity used, after I had come to live with the blue skinned villagers, I approached Chief Hefring asking if he would give me his blessing to try and win his daughter's hand in marriage.

While he was surprised with how formal I was being, I could tell that he nevertheless was happy at my request, so was Frieda judging by the deep blue blush that spread across her face when she heard what I had done, the elder Frost Giant told me that since I was asking to marry the next chief of the village, I would have to prove myself worthy of being his son in law.

I won't go into much detail of what I experienced during those 3 months, since the easiest way I can explain it is that I underwent the Arctic version of James Cameron's Navi training, plus the fact that the last night of my testing involved a 18 hour drinking contest against my father in law to show that I was willing to do whatever it took to win Frieda's hand, but suffice to say I past the tests. And after spending a week recovering from the largest hangover I am likely to ever have, I was a married man.

Within a year of the wedding, Frieda and I were blessed with the first of 4 children, 3 daughters, 1 son, all of whom while somewhat shorter than most Jotun given the fact that their father is a human, still possess the skin color and abilities of their mother, and it wasn't til the birth of our 3rd child and only son Klaus, named after my grandfather, that the village was once again reminded that their dwelt an entire world beyond the confines of their village.

For you see, 4 years after my...disappearance, the human governments of the world had reached an agreement with the previously hidden societies of those we had once deemed to only exists in mythology, and were now revealing to a shocked humanity that they were not alone on this planet. And since they now longer had to spend money covering up the existence of liminals, still don't know where that word comes from, the human governments now directed more funds into discovering new non human societies in order to extend to them the chance to come out of isolation.

When the government discovered the secret village, they were quite surprised at learning that not only did they have a visible of number of humans inhabiting the isolated settlement, the human couple who had also remained in the village had managed to bring about 2 sets of twins into the world with another child on the way, but that their existed 3 mixed blood children in what was supposed to be a Jotun only settlement.

I soon discovered that romantic relations between Humans and Liminals was still illegal despite the recent diplomatic situation, and that I was potentially facing jail time for not only breaking the rather ridiculous law of having sex with a non human woman, but by also having a physical byproduct of my illegal actions. It was only thanks to the support of my new family, not to mention my human family who were overjoyed at discovering that I was still alive, though I think my parents were more happy with the fact that I had finally found someone to settle down with, that the government was willing to overlook my supposed crimes since. Which was only fare since I had been cut off from human civilization and had been unaware of the new set of laws that had been set up to ensure nothing harmed the new status quo.

Of course this meant that I couldn't bring my new family to live with my human one, but since I had no desire to remain separated from my wife and children just to appease some idiotic law makers, I elected to remain in the mountains with my Jotun family.

Of course the Kurusu Amendment means that I live in the human world with my blue skinned family, but in all honesty, I'm happier to spend the rest of my days here in the previously isolated valley. Especially since my parents had decided to retire and spend the rest of their days living with their blue skinned grand kids.

Hopefully other people, be they human or liminal, will find their lives much enriched by the passing of the Kurusu Amendment, and I hope that humanity will continue to accept the process of cultural integration with its non human neighbors.

The Japanese Human and Liminal Relations Department wishes to thank its Norwegian counterpart for providing us with the personal testimony of Mr. Eriksen, and we want to extend our gratitude towards both Mr. Eriksen and his family for revealing to the world that humanity can have healthy, normal relationships with their liminal counterparts.

From the desk of Kuroko Smith

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ANNND technically thats F down since the Liminal specieis in this chapter are Frost Giants. But then I came up with the idea that the Yukionna of Japan are in fact similar to the Frost Giants of Norse Mythology...sooo...here we are XD. Might be a tad of a stretch...but its helps me with the writing lol.

Anyways...hoped you all enjoyed this.

Thank you for your Continued support.

Til next time.