We see her thinking many times how she's in positions to learn information and exploit people's willingness to think little of her to accomplish what she needs. Maybe she would grab the opportunity to be powerful again, but I've gotten the impression that Siuan-then is not the same as Siuan-now, and that situations are such that Siuan would choose, maybe with hesitance and perhaps even regret, to remain at her present power level and manipulate everything behind the scenes.