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The water is most likely being protected by the sooty outgassings of the star. Carbon stars stellar winds are full of carbon particles, that's almost like a soot that can absorb a lot of the radiation being given off by the star. Some carbon stars are that sooty, they radiate mostly in the IR. Their visible light is nearly completely absorbed by the sooty "atmosphere" and re-radiated in the IR. That soot also protects more delicate molecules by shielding them from UV, heat etc. Prevents them from breaking up.
You also have to remember this...1000C at 1 atm is far different from 1000C in a vacuum. At 1atm, because of the vast numbers of molecules and atoms present, the radiative transfer of heat is far more efficient than what it is in a vacuum...despite the presence of the star's outflows, that gas is still a much better vacuum than we can achieve here on Earth.
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