The Empress is a passive, wise, nurturing and supportive energy, associated with the natural world, abundance and fertility. She is the Mother archetype of Tarot. The King of Swords symbolizes the maturity of logic. For that reason, he has a bad reputation when it comes to feelings and indeed, this King will choose to do what is objectively right rather than what feels right. The King of Swords is associated with justice, communications, decisions, emotional detachment. The combination of the Empress and the King of Swords shows powerful energies that show stability, abundance, protection.
To understand the elemental relationships between the cards, we should always take into account their actual meaning. The elements of the cards are Earth (Empress) and Air (King of Swords). The Air card will try to move the Earth card, but in this case, we have a strong, earth card that cannot be easily moved. The King of Swords will be able to influence the Empress, but only to a certain extent. The Earth card will add the necessary gravity to the situation, while the Air card will prevent the situation from becoming stagnant.