Thoughtful readers will have been wondering how long it would be before Minacou got to this point. The conversations with Maggie and others have clearly been mutually rewarding to both sides, but there are limits. The price of those conversations has been a loss of freedom of movement to the dolphins, and talks between captor and captive, however intellectually stimulating, are imbued with an inequity that can't be overcome purely by mental challenge. Prompted by Kitik, Minacou has clearly decided that the status of her relationship with the humans has to be changed, and is demanding that her friend allow that change to take place. In her place, wouldn't you feel the same? Now Maggie is faced with a dilemma; will her professional goals take priority over friendship, or will the needs and desires of her friend prevail?