Abuelo

Abuelo is the grandfather, and he insists on the title. Thirty-six centuries old — the Gran Abuelo of the Andes, ring-verified at 3,622 years — he was a seedling when the pyramids were new, and he tells it like a grandfather tells everything: slowly, twice, and better the second time. Every winter the young Ancients gather at his roots for stories of the ice age, and he never disappoints. Once the borers came with their hollow drills, eager to count him for the Deep Root's ledgers. Abuelo let them drill, watched them count, and nodded along — then told the story of the year he "forgot" to grow, and laughed until sap ran, and the scientists left with numbers that did not quite add up. Whether he hid the Missing Ring inside his own trunk or simply enjoys teasing dendrochronologists, no one has ever gotten him to say.