Sentence:  Then he took off his wet boots and dropped down into the <WSD>water</WSD> to talk with the beasts , needing their comfort more than they needed his . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent