The one thing that scared the King and Queen the most about the Lightning Kid was the idea that he couldn't hear. Over the course of his very young life he had been tested many times by various healers in the Kingdom; sometimes even in other kingdoms. The results were never wholly positive but they also varied in terms of how much hearing loss the Prince had.
The King and Queen knew not only that the Prince needed to hear for listening, but also that it was important for learning how to talk. They had reason to expect that he would experience delays in verbal communication due to his condition anyway, and knowing that in most kingdoms, making yourself understood was very important: in short, if one didn’t understand what you had to say, one would assume you don’t have anything to say. And so the King and Queen were vigilant about finding ways to help the Lightning Kid earn the gift of language.
Things had been worse in the earlier days - when the Prince was only a few months old, the idea that he couldn’t hear was heartbreaking to the King and Queen. They would speak to him, sing him to sleep - how were they supposed to bond with him if not through such means? The notion of him being stone deaf was debunked quickly, and as he got older, they noticed him hearing various things, and especially having trouble getting to sleep when Shark Boy JUST... WOULDN’T...BE...QUIET.
So many of the healers they pursued wanted to adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to the Lightning Kid’s progress; the inconsistent results to tests made them think that maybe the problem would lessen as he grew - a reasonable assumption, however, they probably also thought that accepting delays in the Lightning Kid’s speech development were ‘reasonable’ too... the King and Queen were less willing to toe that line and strove to get the Prince the care he deserved.
Finally, after much effort, the Lightning Kid was scheduled by a healer to have magic embedded in his ears; magic that was intended to remove what was blocking the sound. The King and Queen took him to a place for Sick Children, and found everyone there to be very cheerful and helpful. To put in the magic, the Lightning Kid would need to be put into a magical sleep, and that meant not feeding him for hours before the operation, so in the preceding time, the Prince became quite cranky and whiny. The King was able to rock him to sleep briefly, but he woke shortly before his parents had to hand him off to the healers to be enchanted to sleep. They knew he was in good hands, and yet still they worried, unused to being separated from him under such circumstances.They soon heard from the healer who was to put the magic in to remove the blockage. She was smiling, as she had been successful and everything had gone well. Though, apparently it had been a little difficult to fit magic into his tiny ears. It had taken the smallest magic they had... a pair of 'Tiny Titans'!
After that, it was simply a matter of testing the hearing - normal on the right ear, and very minor hearing loss on the right! The Titans were working their magic. The Lightning Kid bounced back very quickly from the ordeal, and the King and Queen were overjoyed.
Over the next few days, they noticed that the Prince was a little more responsive, and he seemed to look around his environments with wider eyes than usual. The biggest difference though, was making sure that during bath times and swimming lessons, the Tiny Titans wouldn't get drowned...
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