19: Sense of Justice

The Festival was wonderful.
Zenith was famous for its technology, sure, but usually every scientist and engineer worked on its own, in the secret of his laboratory. That day everything was out in the open instead, and Tecna, as the special guest, had the permission to pry everywhere she wanted to.
In that moment the competition was almost finished: it felt a bit like those terrestrian cooking programs Bloom always watched, with a big table on which they could pick the ingredients and a limited time to prepare the recipe. But in that case the recipe was replaced by an invention and the table was full of more or less sophisticated mechanical parts.
It was a pity Timmy wasn't there with her.
Once she had left the Supreme Technowizard's laboratory she sat down silently in front of her mobile phone for at least twenty minutes, trying to take a decision.
She didn't.
She let the days pass without doing anything, without calling him to explain the situation or talking about her convocation. That was easier... and a part of her couldn't wait for the Festival to come: that prize was a dream come true!
Now she was there, a few steps from the prize-giving stage, almost hidden by a curtain.
Beautiful in her new dress, which her mum had wanted super formal for the occasion, but wound tight like a violin string thinking that out there somewhere Timmy was at the fair.
- Excited?
Selvin had got closer without her noticing.
- A bit- she admitted, reluctant. She wasn't completely comfortable with the intensity of her emotions.
- It's an unprecedented occasion- smiled the man, sipping an amber liquor between a sentence and the other -Also a good advertising for Alfea.
Tecna had seen Faragonda in the crowd, escorted by Palladium. It was true, that prize was a win for Alfea too: it surely wasn't famous for its results in technology. She sighed. But...
- Do you think your partner is here somewhere?
She couldn't reply to that question. She thought she had seen him at least three times, but everytime it wasn't him. She had promised herself not to look for him but apparently her eyes weren't obeying to her brain.
- It's time. I go out, you just wait until I call you and then you get up, ok?
And he left her alone with her thoughts.
The Winx were there somewhere in the crowd, probably bored because that festival didn't have any appeal for them. She was happy they came but... there was something inside her that didn't let her be.
- Thank you all for participating to this special event, inhabitants of Zenith! We need to let you know that the contest ends in five, four, three, two... done! The participants are asked to leave their laboratories immediately, so the judges can take a decision. By the way, I want to thank somebody...
In her mind, she couldn't deny it, she had imagined a similar speech as well. Her parents would've been the firsts, and then Timmy. But in that situation it felt like an hypocrisy.
- I'm sure you all know her, but let me introduce her anyway: a very young fairy, graduated from Alfea...
A wave of squeals followed those words, exploding like a firework in a precise spot in the room. Tecna smiled: Stella's, Aisha's and Musa's voices were definitely recognizable.
- ...and Guardian Fairy of Zenith planet itself, as well as owner of an impressive number of achieved transformations! Ladies and gentlemen, Tecna!
She walked the corridor between the two rows of chairs, barely lifting her long damasked skirt and getting to the middle of the stage surrounded by the applauses.
- Today we asked her not only to reward the prize to the winner of the young inventors, but also to attend to receive a coveted award, the First Atomagic, earned for her own invention of a new technology that...
- That invention isn't mine.
Selvin, the only present close enough to hear that, suddenly stopped talking.
- I beg you pardon?
Tecna gently took the microphone from his hands and got near the ledge of the stage. There was a unmistakable mop of reddish blond hair near the platform and that time she didn't need to look for his eyes to know it was him.
- I can't accept any award. Not until my partner, in the laboratory and in real life, won't receive the same prize. There's a guy with a wrinkled shirt, down there, looking like he doesn't know where to look. He deserves the award as much as I do.