If she understands correctly, that translates into - having slaves, by a - category, and wanting a reason to say - that they could do that.  

How do you even turn that into 'not people'? I don't think I murdered someone's kid in the womb and took their place, but if I did I see how that would mean I was a different kind of thing. Pretty sure when some of our humans are poorer than others and some of them can't read if I switched a bunch of them at birth it'd just be the same thing in the same places with the people the other way around.

I think it's like - what some towners say about the field workers. That if we - they - really cared to be somewhere else they would, so all the nice things you need, it's fine if they don't have them, because they can't really want or need them or do anything right with them. That we're - they're different that way.

Oh. Great. 

Well. Might be good to know how they did something about that sort of thing.

Yeah.

Externally, she nods.

"I'm sorry. I - wish we had places that never did anything like that. But it's - good if it can - change.

I can help with the workshop, if there isn't something I wouldn't know that I would need to."

"I'm hopeful it can change, it will change. In our new city, we'll have fair laws. Just... That's been tried before, in this country and in yours, so it's not good enough to simply say that..."

"...There are the trees - and the workshop is over there. Let's get to work, shall we?"

Nod. "'Speaking of harvest while your tools hang in dust yields no grain.'"

And, "Thank you." She heads to the workshop.

Affirmative sign. 

So, what do these trees look like, and can she see where this 'power saw' is and what she's supposed to do with them in between?

The trees are fallen, frozen, and mostly stripped of branches, in big piles! It looks like this place was at least partially once a forest that got knocked over by some cataclysm. 

The power saw is a large spinning metal disk taller than two men, being pushed by a reciprocating metal arm emitting puffs of steam. Some workers by the sawmill wave at her.

Well then. If it's the kind of frozen that'll stick them where they are, she starts melting where needed.

That works! A mass of frozen trees is pretty heavy, and trees themselves are pretty heavy, but ice is a little brittle - she might be able to unstick them from each other with just brute force.

This is not actually an easier kind of force. She'll do melting.

And then take a breath and something like a stretch and something like a half-smile, and one of the trees rises up slightly into the air and starts moving toward the saw.

Impressive! They can rig up, like, hoists and pulleys and stuff later to do this part if it's a bit much.

The tree needs to be lined up like so and such... Then just set it down and there, the moving metal clamps have hold of it and operators start efficiently de-branching it, one long sweep along the circular saw, rotating the tree a bit, and then another.

It's a more strenuous kind of thing but she can do it. Also she might get better at it if she tries more, that can happen.

She can line up and set down! (That's also not exactly the easier kind of thing, but she can manage fine.) Next tree, or not yet, or something else first?

Not yet. It'll take maybe five or ten minutes to do each tree. Maybe help sort the large, usable branches from the tiny twigs and stuff while they wait, the sawmill workers suggest?

She'll need someone to tell her where the dividing lines are, and then she'll need a few moments, 

and then a bunch of twigs will levitate up into the air and fly together over to a different pile. Then repeat.

Wow!

They'll produce like three times as much lumber as they expected to at this rate! It's pretty amazing!

She is definitely positive about such an outcome!

Twig-moving breaks are better than just straight tree-moving on her end, also.

How many of these trees are there?

Thousands and thousands. But they don't need to get to them all today - what they're doing is making the material to build houses and roads and workshops and so on.

"Actually, if you're so good at separating out bits and pieces, they might be able to use you more at the debris piles over there. There's steel scrap and steam cores in there somewhere."

In that case her dragging them one at a time is probably not the best use of time long term, and if they want her here she should switch over at some point to something more systematic. Can be a fine use short-term if they just need a bunch of trees asap now though.

She can go over there! - now?

"Yeah, we need lumber and we need it now."

"Up to you!"

"Or the Captain, where is he?"

"Probably in the workshop that's going up over there."

Unless they want her making decisions by which one sounds more fun to her, which is probably not the thing to do right now, it should really be up to someone who's not her. Because she can move trees and she can levitate steel instead but she definitely doesn't know much about frozen places city building priorities.

Well bossing around the powerful magic lady is not these peoples' job descriptions either.

...He said to help with the trees and would presumably come over or send somebody to say something else if priorities changed, so trees it is?

To be fair he didn't know in specific about sorting abilities, but to be also fair he figured the thing to do was 'trees' and not 'figure out more abilities', so.

Trees it is!

Trees, trees.

Trees indeed. A lot of trees. People come and take the lumber pile they're producing once in a while.

And then a loud foghorn sounds and an echoey voice announces, "End of shift! Come, eat and rest!"