A submission to the Thursday Prompt writing group. This week's prompt was the phrase 'stiffened waterway'.
Check out the group's user page here: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/thursdayprompt/
And the other stories generated from this prompt here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/23559306/

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The Water gathered at the bottom of the cavern did not know how it came to think of itself as a Self. And it did not know why there was a crystal floating at the center of its fluid mass. It did not know if these things it did not know were connected in some way. It only knew that it must never let the crystal be taken away. And it knew what it could sense through the water that was not part of itself. The water that others would call a pond, a waterfall, and a river.

There were strange new Selves coming. The water knew this the moment the cavern was entered. For to enter the cavern, Selves had to wade the river. The first Self had feet which were heavy and hard and made up of many pieces. This one would bring something heavy and sharp. The next feet were softer, and walked more carefully. They would bring many small sharps things. The final set of feet were the softest of all, and behind them trailed a measure of something long that absorbed water. This one would bring stinging words.

Once the three walked out of the river, the Water could no longer sense them. But this had happened many times before. The three would move on through the upper layers of the cavern until they found the other Selves. The little jagged Selves with the sharp feet. That drink much and attack in large groups. The Water allowed those little Selves to live in the upper areas because they never came any lower. And they kept some others from coming lower. Nearer to the crystal, which had to be protected.

The little Selves would try to chase the strangers away. The three Selves would not listen to them. Water would be spilled, and either the bodies of the three would be thrown into the river, or the three would come down the waterfall with their own water intact. The mists of the waterfall shared the outcome. The three Selves came, and began climbing down. Along the way they crossed what was left of those who had failed in their climbs. The hard interiors that were left after all their water had gone. This was a warning too. But the three Selves did not listen. They kept climbing lower.

Low enough that the Water could act. It sent its will into the falling water, not to push the Selves off, but to make their descent more difficult. This was a stronger warning. The water did not want to spill their water, it just wanted them to leave. But the three Selves did not listen to the waterfall. The one with the soft shoes swung from a line, and kept the other two from falling. They climbed down and set their feet down on the water at the foot of the waterfall.

The selves came to the place where the river widened. And the two large stones set there upon the shore. A Self had left something upon them long ago, and some Selves went no further than this. The Water kept the water that dripped down from the cavern’s ceiling from wearing down these stones. So the something would stay, and other Selves would see the something and go back up the fall and leave. But they did not listen to the something. The Self with the softest shoes made a sound, and they all walked past the stone and came closer.

The three were close enough now that the Water could sense the water inside them. But not yet act upon it. But it could impose more of its will into the river. It sent the river’s water rushing against the current, forced toward the Selves. Heavy lines of water to push the three Selves back and away. But they did not listen. The one with heavy shoes stood before the others, and shielded them from each attack. Slowly, they came closer and closer. To where the river became a pond. To the stones in the pond that lead to the island. The island where the Water was gathered in a depression in the earth.

So now the three are here. Here for the crystal. The Selves that come this far always want the crystal.

The Water draws itself up from its resting place. It decants into an approximation of the three Selves. Two feet to stomp and kick, two hands to swing and crush, a mouth to shout. This form it cools and hardens. Into a jagged mass of ice, the crystal secured at its center of mass. Shielded. Safe.

The Water causes a pressure differential to occur behind its mouth. Air rushes through its lipless orifice in a way that it has learned other Selves find unpleasant. There is no warning in these noises. Only a promise. This Water will not let the crystal be taken away. It will spill their water.

They do not listen. They attack.

The ones that come after will not listen to them, either.