"Fragments?" Jim frowns a little. "Like... magical shrapnel, or something like that?"

He won't be seeing any signs of absolute denial from the captain. Whether or not he believes in magic, or any other spiritual or cultural aspects of new people he meets, at the very least the worst diplomatic thing he could possibly do would be to insult someone else's beliefs. And he has seen proof of magic's existence, so he can accept it as real, even if he doesn't remotely understand it.