The Secret of Tabitha

"" (タバサの秘密, Tabasa no Himitsu) is episode 8 of the anime series, The Familiar of Zero.

Summary
When Saito and Louise are returning back to school on horseback, Louise is getting pissed that Saito is holding onto her by grabbing her chest. It doesn’t help that Saito tells her that her chest is flat, a comment that causes Louise to elbow him off the horse. The two see Tabitha and Kirche boarding a carriage and Kirche tells Louise that they’re going to Tabitha’s home. Saito wishes them a nice trip after getting to spend some quality time with his face in Kirche’s breasts, all of which results in Louise kicking him in the head. Inside the carriage, Kirche tries to make small talk with Tabitha, but the blue-haired girl just keeps reading her book. Kirche brings up the subject of them both being overseas students, and asks Tabitha why she’s studying abroad. Tabitha doesn’t answer, so Kirche admits to having been a trouble maker, but what gets Tabitha’s attention is when Kirche describes herself as someone who was gotten rid of. Suddenly, the carriage stops and a farmer comes by to tell Kirche that the Lake Lagdorian overflowed, so they have to take a detour.

Back at Tristain, Saito is given more housework by Louise, and when he goes outside to do the laundry, he sees a scene of Montmorency angry at Guiche. He also notices a large pot on the far side of the courtyard and gets an idea. After the head chef gives him the pot, Saito makes plans for tonight. Back on the carriage, Kirche sees all the homes flooded by the lake water and then notices a road sign with a crest on it. She recognizes the symbol as that of the Gallia royal family, meaning that Tabitha must be… The two eventually arrive at a large mansion with the same crest over the front door. An elderly servant welcomes home Tabitha, but he oddly addresses her as Charlotte. Kirche asks about greeting Tabitha’s father first, but Tabitha just shakes her head and tells Kirche to wait in the living room. In here, there is a portrait of someone who looks like he could be Tabitha’s father on top of the fireplace.

The servant brings Kirche some tea and introduces himself as Percerin the butler. Kirche asks Percerin about Charlotte being Tabitha’s real name and why she would use a fake name to come to study abroad. For Kirche to understand it all, Percerin has to start from the beginning and tell her about the family’s past. Charlotte’s father was the Duke of Orléans, the younger brother of the current king. However, he was killed. He had been the second son of the royal family, and when the previous king died five years ago, the Duke of Orléans was killed by a poison arrow in a succession dispute. The current king Joseph’s allies also kept the future in mind, so they went after Charlotte. Along with her mother, Charlotte was invited to a dinner party where an assassin gave Charlotte a special drink. Seeing the man’s evil smile, Charlotte’s mother had taken the drink from her daughter and drank it herself. It seems that the drink was poisoned with water magic that made the mind go insane. When news of this became public, that noble was convicted. But the damage had been done – in order to protect her daughter, Charlotte’s mother sacrificed herself.

While Percerin has been going through his explanation, Tabitha has been visiting her mother. She is indeed crazy and raves about spies and people coming after her daughter. What’s more, she refers to the doll she is holding as her daughter, Charlotte, and doesn’t recognize Tabitha. Percerin tells Kirche that the name Tabitha is from a doll that her mother gave her as a present. And even after what happened to her mother, Charlotte started getting assigned dangerous jobs because there were still people who wanted her dead. However, Charlotte was strong and was able to accomplish all of the unreasonable orders. Usually, these achievements would be rewarded with territory, but Charlotte only got the title Chevalier and was sent to study overseas, essentially having been gotten rid of. These last words resonate with Kirche since she had described herself similarly earlier. At this point, Tabitha returns from seeing her mother and Kirche acts as if nothing happened.

Meanwhile, night has arrived at Tristain and Saito has converted the giant pot into a bath. By chance, Siesta passes through the courtyard, sees the pot, and comes over to investigate. Saito unintentionally surprises her by bursting out of the water, causing her to spill the tea she was carrying all over herself. Once he tells her what it is, she says that she wants to get in too. In a joking manner, Saito suggests that she get in with him, and to his surprise, Siesta takes him seriously. She quickly strips down, saying that she knows he’s not the type of person to do weird things. Though Saito is initially quite embarrassed, he soon warms up to having Siesta in there with him. She asks him what kind of place his country is, but all he can think to tell her is that there’s only one moon and that there are no mages. During all this, Montmorency has concocted a potion of some sort and is now attempting to slip it into Guiche’s drink. The two are interrupted when Guiche notices that Louise has come out. She’s of course looking for Saito and is shocked to find him naked in the bath with Siesta. They’re talking so happily together that they don’t notice her looking at them and then running away. Siesta is telling Saito about her great-grandfather, who used to talk about living in a different world and falling from the sky. Just as Saito is about to ask her about that, Siesta stands up to get out of the bath. As she gets dressed, she thanks him because she had such a good time and the bath was wonderful. But the best part of it for her was Saito himself.

As for Louise, she’s stomping off mad, though she’s unsure of why she ran away like that. By this time, Montmorency has successfully slipped a drop of the potion into Guiche’s drink. However, Louise comes over, grabs the drink, and gulps it down before Montmorency can say anything about it. And so, when Saito returns to Louise’s room after having finished his bath, he finds Louise unhappy with him, yet at the same time her face is flushed. Instead of her normal anger, she starts weakly hitting him and calling him an idiot for leaving her alone and being together with Siesta instead, even though Louise loves him so much. That last part really shocks Saito, but then Montmorency peeks her head into the room and sees that Louise is acting (unfortunately) just as expected. Meanwhile, Tabitha has gotten another order from the king and the job is for tomorrow. After Percerin wishes her good luck in battle and leaves, Tabitha asks Kirche to wait here while she goes off and does the task. Kirche reveals that she learned everything from Percerin and says that she wants to go along. Tabitha claims that it’s dangerous, but that’s the reason Kirche wants to go together. Later that night, Kirche hears Tabitha crying out in her sleep for her mother not to drink that. Kirche goes over and holds the sleeping Tabitha in her arms, allowing her warmth to comfort the girl who had been through so much.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Louise de la Vallière
 * Saito Hiraga
 * Kirche von Zerbst
 * Charlotte de Gallia
 * Unnamed Inhabitant
 * Guiche de Gramont
 * Montmorency de Montmorency
 * Marteau
 * Derflinger
 * Charles de Orléans (Painting and flashback)
 * Percerin
 * Duchess of Orléans
 * Joseph de Gallia (Mentioned)
 * Unnamed Assassin (Flashback)
 * Siesta