if some atevi fool tries out a human sport with home-made equipment and no instruction, and ends up dying, humans could take some of the blame for it

Eek! I hope not! Unless they can prove a human was responsible for diverting that bit of mail... His security might get in trouble, for not catching the mail-pilferers, too.

Hey, I have a great idea for Bren to make a bit of extra money! He could sell instructional videos for things like skiing. (Waterskiing, too, if he got Toby in on the deal?)

I hope Ilisidi can read human emotions and see that Bren had no idea about the ship

I hope so, too! I found it a little worrying that she said "that's a little too incredible" after watching his reaction... Maybe, to an ateva used to minimal reactions, it looked overdone? Or she didn't trust her own interpretation -- because shock could well look similar, but she knows humans do differ in significant and unexpected ways, and can't rely on reading him?

Hopefully further exposure to Bren will convince her that he's a horrible face-liar unless he's got a script. :D