[ He at least understands it perfectly well, so he hardly minds her phrasing. If anything, he just moves along smoothly. ]

I can, at least somewhat. I did not keep the Shard with me regularly. In fact, I rarely interacted with it, since that was part of how I was keeping it safe.

[ He hates using the past tense already, but— ]

There was a kind of taint in the Shard I received, at least. I will be able to see that without a problem.