The first time Gale sees Madge in District 13 all he can think about is the fact that she is broken, her eyes are bloodshot, her face shows she has been crying. And he can't help but to compare her with the girl he is used to see on TV, she has nothing in common with the perfect and proper girl that smiled at the cameras and always says what she's expected to say. She is just a shadow of what used to be Snow puppy.
But he has to take back all his thoughts when she arrives at the command room. When she starts shouting at Coin about the broken promises and where she and the revolution are headed to and moving towards to, he remembers that the girl standing in front of him is the same girl that set an entire arena on fire with only twelve years, that one that has been living in the Capitol for the last five years. She has been able to survive that jungle made of iron and glass they call the Capitol. He sees fire in her eyes. And he thinks he is seeing Katniss.
After a few weeks he realises that she is not like Katniss. He knows she has lost her parents, but instead of letting that drown her, she uses her pain to fight back. And she does it, every single day. The soldiers have to take her wherever Coin wants her to be. And every time they do it at least one or two of them end up in the hospital. And he admires her. He admires her strength.
He later discovers that she is a force of nature after that afternoon when she was in command and ended up exploding, she is not fire, as fire can be controlled and even extinguished. But there's nothing you can do about forces of nature except hide and wait for them to calm down, wait until the storm has passed. He is not sure which she is, but he is eager to discover it.
In the meantime he is furious with her. Furious about all the energy she is putting in making Coin's life impossible, that energy is energy she could using to fight the Capitol, to do something for the greater good. He thinks a lot about this, especially when he is working with Betee.
He finally decides she is wind. She is like a breeze when she is gentle, like the hot wind in summer when she is in a bad mood, and that cold air in autumn when she is sad and hurricane-like; a strong and vicious hurricane when she is angry. Like the one that almost destroyed district four a couple of years ago. And she is angry, oh God she's very angry! She is angry about everything and nothing at the same time. She's angry because she can, because she has to. He knows she doesn't have the time to grieve, to mourn for her loss, and that infuriates her, but also him. She does not have a tomb to visit, no one to comfort her, she barely has time to cryor to find a moment of peace. So she chooses to let her rage go wild, she curses everyone that doesn't give her what she wants, she kicks, bites and screams when they take her away.
But he is angry too, so he argues back. He admires her, respects her. But he is also angry with her, he understands her feelings, all of them. She's not the first person to lose someone, but she is not using all her power in the way she should. Because he is sure, that the moment she starts fighting Snow they will win and she will have her revenge. So he continues fighting her every time she needs it.
What amazes him the most is that she hasn't lost herself in such a rage. She continues being Madge. If you know where you have to search, you'll realise. She is able to let their differences away when he asks her to teach him to fight. And she does, she shows him everything she knows about it. The strength you need, the strategy behind every battle, the beauty in every fight, the art of war. When she is teaching him, he sees her, the real her behind all those masks. And he starts to learn things about her. He knows that she loves fighting, because she sees it like an art, and she is in love with art. Music, she loves music, she's always humming some tone, and if you listen to it, you will be able to know her mood. But Madge teaching him doesn't mean that she has decided to do what Coin wants, she's still furious and angry.
And he hopes Madge could come back to her senses, but until this happens the only way he has to show her that he cares for her is fighting.