She started to reply, but was interrupted by his hug, and broke into a smile. "I've..." She sighed. "I've been lonely. I've taken more after you than mother suspects, and... while she might be fine spending decades in here, speaking only through dreams... I haven't had much of a chance to see the world.And, while you can do... quite a bit in dreams, there's no substitute for doing things... in person," she explained, a slight blush coloring her coal-black skin.<br/><br/>"As to the religion... he kept to the<em>letter</em>of your agreement. It was never active persecution, at least, not for following your religion. But it was passive, or for other reasons. Minor offenses taken to court, denials of request, unfavorable trade agreements... a million and one little things, nothing ever explicit, but it was easy enough to see the reason. So... it went underground, or simply faded away. Most religions did; relatively few still worship openly, anywhere."