When Milady was six or seven, she, like many other children, had been led by her mother in the petal dance.
Arms outstretched, a twirl, a step forward… During festivals and celebrations, the children would imitate wildflowers blooming one by one in spring, spreading their petals to blanket the hillsides and meadows. They would dance on sunbeams, hopping one by one down Haidu Street, half dancing and half playing. To this day, she could still clearly recall the sound of their laughter.
Just ten minutes ago, Milady saw the petal dance again. But this time, the dancer was a small mechanism from the New and Strange Zoo, only knee-high.
Even its dance steps were identical to what she remembered: open its metal petals, twirl, take a step forward… When it was interrupted, it would start over from the beginning.
"In other words, once we know where it is, we can make it move in a set direction by interrupting it and forcing it to restart its dance over and over."
