[Haha, I just think the way you're using the pigeon is so funny. Homing pigeons are trained to return to a specific destination and stay there until their trainer comes to retrieve them. Messenger Hawks were used on battlefields, but pigeons are one-way only.]
One the Navy ship, a black-haired boy with green eyes ducked as a pigeon flew over his head. He untied the scroll from its leg and opened it carefully, recognizing the handwriting as Liza's. He ran to the crew's quarters and found a quill, then searched the ship for an inkpot. When he found one, he went back up to the deck in order to write a reply. He flipped Liza's message over and scrawled in uneven handwriting, "I am no longer who you think I am. If you and I and Alexa and the crew are all lucky, we will never meet again." He rolled up the scroll with only a slight twinge of regret and tossed the pigeon into the air, letting it carry the message back to his old captain. He heard his new captain call out an order from the bow of the ship, so he ran to listen.