"I object!" Ligo jumped up almost straight from her chair. "No matter how desperate you are for people, you can't just fish out an abolitionist expert to handle children's education for you!"
"Ligo, listen to me..."
"Either you don't come to me for my opinion, but since you did, I'm telling you I could never agree to live in the same place as someone like that! How could you even think of such a thing—how could you possibly think of it!?" Ligo paced back and forth across the room. "What are you bringing her here for? When the time comes, she'll stand at the podium and lecture the kids at length on why the death penalty simply must be abolished—"
"Ground rules can be set," Hesta said. "She won't bring her personal politics—"
"Is that a rule you can expect her to follow just because you set it? If she—"
"Ligo, let me finish speaking first, please."
Ligo crossed her arms, her gaze burning as she stared into Hesta's eyes.
"When Stella first recommended her to me, I had that exact same attitude," Hesta said. "But she told me something else..."
Ligo slapped her thigh hard: "No matter what she told you—"
"Ligo," Hesta reminded gently, "I wasn't finished yet."
Ligo dropped the corners of her mouth again.
Hesta cleared her throat: "This Mrs. Pakart spent the last ten years in the Nia Province, launching educational pilot programs with the support of a well-respected local official. But two years ago, that official passed away, and the schools she helped organize lost their Ministry of Education pilot status the very next year—she came to District 12 for this reason, because an official here claimed willingness to support her educational philosophy, but unfortunately..."
After enduring for a long time, Ligo still couldn't