He was finally able to attend a communal dinner that evening and made his way to his seat, his walking stick tapping on the ground and making people turn and notice him before causing whispers to turn into a loud chatter. Uri was gestured over by some of the life students who moved aside to let him sit down, "Thank you," He sat and placed his cane next to him, "I haven't joined in on these in a while," He smiled as the other students all look at him as if he had a story to tell.
"Did you actually save the academy?" It was an expected situation.
"How did you get so powerful?"
"I didn't know that first year life magic was that strong," Uri nodded and shrugged.
"To be honest with you," The young mage began, "I don't know how to explain it to you and make it dinner friendly," This comment made the others laugh before the headmaster called for their attention.
"I apologize for interrupting your dinner but there are some important announcements that needed to be said," He began, "The first is that the Mage Games will be able to take place this year despite the problematic situation that happened earlier this year," His announcement got cheers and whistles from the students, "The second is the presentation of an award that has not been handed out in many years, I have only handed this award out once before and never has it been given to a first year student until now," Chatter and whispers kicked up again, "The award is the Hero of the Academy award, yes I know, the name is rather strange but this is an important award that is handed out when a student rises to an occasion and beats the odds," Everyone turned to look at Uri as they all seemed to expect who would get the award, "When the academy came under attack, a first year student decided to act in order to protect the other students instead of following normal protocol, Uri Geld may have given up years of his life in order to prevent the attackers from getting their way and causing chaos in the heart of the academy," The headmaster gestured for Uri to stand and he slowly got to his feet and began walking towards the headmaster, "This is why I have the honor of making Uri one of the few students who have ever received this award," Uri shook the headmaster's hand and smiled as the other students clapped and cheered, "Thank you for everything you have done, Uri," The headmaster placed an amulet in his hand, "The symbol of Mage Haven Academy."
"I appreciate the gesture, Headmaster Solven," He turned back to where he had been sitting and hobbled his way back.
"Apologies for the interruption, please continue your meals."
"You made the branch proud, Uri," Michael commented, "The Hero of Mage Haven Academy is one of our brothers," Uri sat down and simply smiled.
"Thank you for the praise," The young mage replied, "I am glad to be with the rest of you once more," The meal continued with the hero of Mage Haven Academy's meal being interrupted for details of his prowess. The questions came from all the year groups at the table and Uri was all too happy to answer and get back into interacting with his peers. It was a welcome change from his recovery and the little interaction he had during that time.
Days turned into weeks as Uri was slowly able to depend on his cane less and less but the limp in his leg was still obviously present. His relationship with Kelly only grew as he ended up being very torn during the Mage Games where he wanted to cheer for Kelly but also cheer for the life team. For the most part, he could, until the life team and the fire team clashed. He didn't cheer very loudly but was very focused on the games. The clashes were violent and the physicality of the Mage Game was intimidating. Kelly seemed to embrace the violence of the game as she scored once by running Michael over and then throwing herself into the air to get over the line. She roared as she got up and tossed the ball to the automaton referee. This was the Kelly he knew, fiercely competitive and committing everything to get to where she wanted. However, despite the spectacular breakthroughs that the fire team had, they weren't going to beat the life team that easily and the very well thought out game plan and very practiced mages lead them to punch back ten times harder for each punch the other team had given them. Unfortunately for the fire team, in the end, the life team won and in a crushing manner, beating them by over a hundred points and making their winning streak from a five straight to a six straight. He cheered for the victory but spotted Kelly on her knees and crying, it was unusual for her to be so emotional and he quickly headed through the cheering crowd of the life students and walked towards her as a teammate tried comforting her, "Hey Kelly," She looked up and wiped her eyes as Uri knelt next to her, "That was really impressive."
"Why aren't you celebrating with your team?" She nearly pushed him to the ground, still crying, "I lost, I am fine, it's fine."
"You know," He winced slightly before leaning back over and hugging his girlfriend, "I think you are more important than my team right now," He felt her arms move around him and then hold him tightly.
"Thank you," She replied as he hugged her, "At least it was fun."
"You will feel those hits tomorrow," He chuckled, "Trust me, I have given a lot of myself before and felt it afterwards."
"You are funny, Uri," She laughed, "I am already feeling the hits, my body is telling me that everything hurts right now," Uri chuckled and Kelly smiled.
"You were really impressive, I enjoyed watching this game," He stood up with her and hobbled with her as they walked off of the field, "I will be a life student again for the award ceremony."
"I know, but thank you for cheering me up, Uri, and saving me from the Oik and listening to me when I ranted to you the first time we talked and all the things inbetween."
"And thank you for saving me the first time we met, and staying with me when I was recovering and," He smiled, "All the things inbetween," She hugged him and held him from stumbling as she accidentally knocked the cane out from under his hand.
"And you saved me, my hero and the hero of Mage Haven Academy," Uri rolled his eyes, "Will I see you later?"
"That works for me," He said as he began walking back to the rest of the life division as the award ceremony was going to start. Life had added to its large palmaress and they were once again proving that despite having the weakest magic, they lacked any weak links. There was one less spot in their trophy cases. Uri hadn't expected this type of year for his first year in Mage Haven Academy, but it wasn't something he could say he didn't like. The young man couldn't see himself going back to what he had gone through as a simple orphan before this.