What does "such as they were" mean?

Solution 1:

From Lexico

such as it is (also such as they are)

phrase

What little there is; for what it's worth.

‘the plot, such as it is, takes road movie form’

‘The tax cut, such as it is, was certainly still worth doing, experts say.’

‘So I had to take my career and talents, such as they are, elsewhere.’

The they does refer to her interests.

For the first en-dash, this is equivalent to a comma separating two noun phrases in apposition a wariness... and something different.

As for the second en-dash, it is used before such as they were because this is a supplement to the sentence, a side note not tightly integrated into the meaning or structure of the sentence. In speech it would be marked by a pause or change in tone to communicate that the information added is parenthetical.

The use of the two en-dashes is not connected in any way - they have separate functions in the sentence.