Oh, okay, I came across that exchange with the court wizard today.
Looking through the guide, the statues with the sword and lance in front of the locked off door in the second shapeshifter temple can have magic used on them. I couldn't examine them though. Usually, you can examine things you can use magic on unless you can't reach them.
When talking to Keiko about repairing Golden Leaf, she still lists the mill as an dialogue option while it's being repaired. The thing is I have the light house being repaired at the same time, but she doesn't comment on that anymore.